Lillian Warren, pseudonym Rosalind Brett (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1950s) was a British author who wrote for

Mills & Boon Mills & Boon is a romance imprint of British publisher Harlequin UK Ltd. It was founded in 1908 by Gerald Rusgrove Mills and Charles Boon as a general publisher. The company moved towards escapist fiction for women in the 1930s. In 1971, the ...

romance. As a prolific author of romance novels, she had two other pseudonyms, Kathryn Blair and Celine Conway. At the height of her career, Warren was considered one of publisher's superstars, who set high sales records and a standard for romances published during the 1950s. Joseph McAleer in his book Passion's Fortune: The Story of Mills and Boon, describes Brett's work as so sexy for the era, that it often had to be "watered down". According to McAleer, she is credited by

Anne Weale Jay Blakeney (20 June 1929 – 24 October 2007) was a British writer and newspaper reporter, well known as a romance novelist under the pen names Anne Weale and Andrea Blake. She wrote over 88 books for Mills & Boon from 1955 to 2002. She died ...

as inventing the "punishing kiss". Brett/Warren came to

from

Rich & Cowan Rich & Cowan Ltd was a book publisher, based at 37 Bedford Square, London WC1. They specialized in literary books. Books * '' A Ghost in Monte Carlo'' by Barbara Cartland, (1951) * ''Goethe: a play in four acts'' by S. M. and C. S. Fox, London,( ...

, a publisher she felt didn't offer her enough support.

Book notes

Rosalind Brett's romances from the 1950s are historically significant for the

series, by her choice of locations. Her stories take readers away from the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, to East Africa:

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

Nyasaland Nyasaland () was a British protectorate located in Africa that was established in 1907 when the former British Central Africa Protectorate changed its name. Between 1953 and 1963, Nyasaland was part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasala ...

, providing glimpses of Salisbury (present day

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

) and

Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council cl ...

, the second city in what is now

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Other locations are

French Morocco The French protectorate in Morocco (french: Protectorat français au Maroc; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في المغرب), also known as French Morocco, was the period of French colonial rule in Morocco between 1912 to 1956. The prote ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, South Africa, and the

Pacific Islands Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

. The main

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

are at work trying to build prosperous lives in what were British, French and Portuguese colonies. Publishing in post

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period, Brett writes at the crossroads of history when, colonial rule once paramount in parts of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

, would come to be challenged. While her stories depict the colonial life, absent from them is any underlying tension between rulers and subjects.

Bibliography

As Rosalind Brett Single novels * ''

Secret Marriage Clandestinity is a diriment impediment in the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church. It invalidates a marriage performed without the presence of three witnesses, one of whom must be a priest or a deacon. History It was promulgated in the 16th ...

'' - 1947, ASIN: B000WHQZ2I Amazon Standard Identification Number * '' Pagan Interlude'' - 1947, ASIN: B000WHPKB0 Amazon Standard Identification Number * '' For My Sins'' - 1966, ASIN: B0045B1694 Amazon Standard Identification Number * '' A Cottage In Spain'' - 1955, September 1965 Harlequin Romance #952 * '' And No Regrets'' - 1950,

Presents A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...

, #71 December 1974 * '' Brittle Bondage'' - 1951, 1962 (

); July 1969 Harlequin Romance #1319 * ''

Dangerous Waters Dangerous Waters may refer to: * Dangerous Waters (video game) * Dangerous Waters (1936 film), American film * Dangerous Waters (1995 film) ''Dangerous Waters'' ( no, Farlig farvann) is a 1995 Norwegian action film directed by Lars Berg. Refe ...

'' - 1960, December 1964 Harlequin Romance #877 * '' Elizabeth Browne, Children's Nurse'' - April, 1965 Harlequin Romance #908 * '' Fair Horizon'' - 1952, 1963 Harlequin Romance #760 * '' Hotel Mirador'' - 1959, February 1966 Harlequin Romance #989 * '' Nurse On Holiday'' - 1963 Harlequin Romance #740 * '' Love This Stranger'' - 1951,

, #55 August 1974 * '' Portrait Of Susan'' - 1956, December 1963 Harlequin Romance #783 * '' Stormy Haven'' - 1952, 1962 Harlequin Romance #656 * '' Sweet Waters'' - 1955, February 1964 Harlequin Romance #800 * '' Tangle In Sunshine'' - 1957, July 1964 Harlequin Romance #839 * '' The Bolambo Affair'' - 1961, August 1967 Harlequin Romance #1131 * '' The Girl At White Drift'' - 1962, April 1967 Harlequin Romance #1101 * '' The Reluctant Guest'' - 1959, November 1964 Harlequin Romance #869 * '' They Came To Valeira'' - 1950,

, #43 May 1974 * ''

Too Young To Marry ''Too Young to Marry'' is a 2007 romantic comedy-drama television film directed by Michel Poulette and based on a story by Elle Triedman. It involves two 17-year-olds, Max Doyle (Dillon Casey) and Jessica Carpenter (Nina Dobrev), who think that ...

'' - 1958, September 1964 Harlequin Romance #856 * '' Towards The Sun'' - 1953, 1962 Harlequin Romance #693 * '' Whispering Palms'' - 1954, 1963 Harlequin Romance #731 * '' Winds In The Wilderness'' - 1954, 1963 Harlequin Romance #773 * '' Winds Of Enchantment'' - 1954, January 1968 Harlequin Romance #1176 * '' Young Tracy'' - 1958, April 1964 Harlequin Romance #815

References

Joseph McAleer Passion’s Fortune: The Story of Mills & Boon Print publication date: 1999 Print Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204558.001.000
08 Chapter PF
"the 1950s, Lillian Warren (as Rosalind Brett), earned the wrath of Canadian readers when her heroine, while paddling a canoe in a Canadian lake, dropped her "

External links

Rosalind Brett's Webpage
in Fantastic Fiction's Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Brett, Rosalind English romantic fiction writers Possibly living people Year of birth missing