The Flame And The Flower
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''The Flame and the Flower'' (published 1972) is the debut work of
romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
ist Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. The first modern "bodice ripper" romance novel, the book revolutionized the
historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...
genre. It was also the first full-length romance novel to be published first in paperback rather than hardback.


Background


Author

As a child, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss relished creating her own stories, and by age six was telling herself stories at night to help fall asleep. After she married, Woodiwiss continued to think of plots. Several times she attempted to write a novel, but each time stopped in frustration at the slow pace of writing a novel longhand. After buying her husband an electric
typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...
for a Christmas present, Woodiwiss appropriated the machine to begin her novel in earnest.


Society

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, as the
feminist movement The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality b ...
gained visibility in the United States, female sexuality became more open.McKnight-Trontz (2002), p. 23. The
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
effectively gutted the nation's obscenity laws in 1966, ruling in ''
Memoirs v. Massachusetts ''Memoirs v. Massachusetts'', 383 U.S. 413 (1966), was the United States Supreme Court decision that attempted to clarify a holding regarding obscenity made a decade earlier in ''Roth v. United States'' (1957). Since the ''Roth'' ruling, to ...
'' that the state could not ban the reprint of
John Cleland John Cleland (c. 1709, baptised – 23 January 1789) was an English novelist best known for his fictional '' Fanny Hill: or, the Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure'', whose eroticism led to his arrest. James Boswell called him "a sly, old malcont ...
's erotic novel ''
Fanny Hill ''Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure''—popularly known as ''Fanny Hill''—is an erotic novel by English novelist John Cleland first published in London in 1748. Written while the author was in debtors' prison in London,Wagner, "Introduction" ...
''.Frum (2000), p. 189. Attitudes toward premarital sex also relaxed considerably. In 1972, less than 40% of American women fully or conditionally endorsed premarital sex; by 1982, 58% of women had adopted this attitude.Frum (2000), p. 191.


Publication

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there were two routes to publication for romance novels. Short novels which followed a conventional plot pattern and were set in contemporary times were known as category romances. These were distributed to drugstores and other mass-market outlets and were generally available for only one month before being pulled from the shelves. Longer novels, set in either contemporary or historical times, were published in hardback. Woodiwiss's finished work, ''The Flame and the Flower'', was 600 pages long. It was rejected by multiple agents and hardcover publishers for its length. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, Woodiwiss instead submitted it to paperback publisher
Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...
. Avon editor Nancy Coffey pulled the manuscript from the
slush pile In publishing, a slush pile is a set of unsolicited query letters or manuscripts that have either been directly sent to a publisher by an author, or which have been delivered via a literary agent representing the author who may or may not be f ...
and liked what she read.Lutz (2000), p. 6. Avon purchased the publication rights from Woodiwiss for $1,500 and agreed to pay her 4% of the royalties.Silverman (2008), p. 399.


Plot summary

The novel is set at the turn of the 19th century. After Heather Simmons, a penniless orphan, kills a man named William Court who was attempting to rape her, she flees the scene. Near the London dockside, two men, who mistake her for a prostitute, seize her and escort her onto a ship. Heather believes she has been arrested for murder. Unaware of the misconceptions on both sides, the captain of the ship, Brandon Birmingham, rapes Heather. When he does so, he ruptures her
hymen The hymen is a thin piece of mucosal tissue that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia, and is similar in structure to the vagina. In children, a common appearance of the h ...
and realizes she was a virgin and, therefore, probably not a prostitute. Heather cries herself to sleep and a confused Brandon sleeps next to her. The next morning Heather wakes up and Brandon, awakened by her movement, rapes her a second time. Afterwards, when Brandon asks her why she would sell her virginity on the streets, she tearfully tells him that she was merely lost. Afraid that Heather will tell others what he has done, Brandon tries to bribe Heather by offering to set her up in an affluent house as his mistress. She angrily declines. An angry Brandon then takes Heather hostage and rapes her a third time. Afterwards Heather goes back to sleep. When she awakens again she is allowed to bathe and has breakfast with Brandon. Brandon then attempts to rape her a fourth time but is interrupted when his crewman calls him away on business. When Brandon leaves the ship, Heather manages to escape his ship and flees back home. The
rapes Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, Abusive power and control, ...
left Heather pregnant, and she reveals what happened to her aunt and uncle. Brandon is tracked down and a magistrate forces him and Heather to marry. Neither is pleased with their new situation. Over the next few months, as they prepare for and undertake a voyage to Brandon's home in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, their feelings for each other begin to soften. Once in the United States, Heather is plagued by Louisa Wells, Brandon's jealous former betrothed, who attempts to drive a wedge between the couple. Other jealous girls, including Sybil Scott, also try to cause problems between Heather and Brandon. Heather and Brandon continue to misunderstand each other's motives, leading to much tension between them. Heather eventually gives birth to a healthy son, Beau. Several months later, Heather and Brandon resolve their differences, profess their love to each other, and share a bed for the first time as husband and wife. The following morning, Sybil Scott is found murdered. Although Brandon is accused of the crime, Heather is able to provide him an alibi. Soon after, Heather is blackmailed by Thomas Hint, the former assistant to William Court. Thomas also left England and came to Charleston where he opened a dress shop. He threatens to tell the authorities that Heather murdered William. One of Brandon's sailors named Dickie also informs Louisa that Brandon had discovered Heather on the streets. Louisa believes that Heather was a prostitute, and confronts Brandon. She promises to forgive him for his dalliance if he will send Heather back to London and allow her to take Heather's place as wife and mother of Beau. Brandon threatens Louisa and sends her away. When she is found dead the following morning, Brandon is arrested. Heather confronts Thomas, who confesses to killing both women, and also William Court, and then tries to rape her. She is saved by Brandon, who had been released from jail. During the ensuing confrontation, Brandon is shot in the arm. Thomas escapes, but the skittish horse he chose bucks him to the ground. A tree limb collapsed on him, killing him instantly. The charges against Brandon are dropped, and he and Heather live happily ever after.


Genre

At the time of this novel's publication, romance novels, especially those distributed in mass-market format, were generally very chaste, with minimal physical intimacy between the protagonists. Heroines remained virgins—or chaste widows—throughout the novel. ''The Flame and the Flower'' departed from this notion quite early in the book.The initial sex scene took place on page 28. (Frum (2000), p. 193.) The sexual encounters were not only graphic, but also sometimes violent and non-consensual. The heroine was not only raped by her future husband, but two other men attempted to rape her. The initial rape was used as a plot device to overcome the societal norms which frowned on women who consented to premarital sex.
Archive
Instead of being described as a completely violent act, the rape was depicted as an "erotic fantasy" of subjugation. In many romances, heroines generally did not have strong personalities, and were more submissive to the heroes.Thurston (1987), p. 42. Heroines of
gothic romance Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of ea ...
s often displayed more spunk, but were still dependent on a wealthy, handsome hero. Woodiwiss developed her female protagonist, Heather, more along the lines of a gothic heroine, as slightly more independent but still occasionally needing a stronger man to rescue her.Radway (1999), p. 572.Radway (1999), p. 571. However, rather than being completely dependent on her hero, Heather acted in a manner that earned his respect along with his love. Woodiwiss's hero, Brandon, was initially depicted as ominous and dangerous, "darkly tanned" with black hair and a willingness to imprison the heroine to get his way. As the book progressed, the hero was instead subjugated by his love for the heroine. In the novel's climax he was described as "pale" and "trembling", the antithesis of his initial description. In her book ''The Dangerous Lover'', Deborah Lutz labels this reversal a "grandness of contradiction distinct from other romance formulas, particularly earlier ones". In another departure from romances of the time, ''The Flame and the Flower'' took the reader on journey to multiple locales, some exotic for their time. The travel was routine for the hero, but allowed the heroine to have a grand adventure.


Publication

Like most paperback publishers, Avon chose one book each month to receive extensive advertising and a larger than normal print run. In 1970, Avon had broken with tradition by selecting
Burt Hirschfield Burt is a given name and also a shortened form of other names, such as Burton and Herbert, or a place name. Burt may refer to: People *Burt Alvord (1866–after 1910), American Old West lawman and outlaw *Burt Bacharach (born 1928), American com ...
's ''Fire Island'', which had not previously been published in hardback, as a featured title. After reading ''The Flame and the Flower'', Coffey believed that it, like ''Fire Island'', could be a successful original feature. With its April 1972 publication as an "Avon Spectacular" book, the novel became the first single-title romance novel to be published as an original paperback.Category romances were always published originally in paperback; romances that did not fit into a category line debuted in hardcover. Like category romances, it was distributed in drug stores and other mass-market merchandising outlets. Paperback books generally were not reviewed by critics. The novel's more erotic content probably contributed to it being a better candidate for initial paperback release rather than hardcover. The book was scheduled for an initial print run of 500,000 copies. By 1978, it had been through 40 printings and had sold over 4.5 million copies.Frum (2000), p. 193. It is still in print as of 2020. The cover, designed by Avon Art Director Barbara Bertoli, set a standard for sensual historical romance covers. The cover was an example of what was called "the Avon look" with a large solid color background, large type, and a small vignette. One early version of the cover included a vignette by veteran illustrator
Robert McGinnis Robert Edward McGinnis (born February 3, 1926) is an American artist and illustrator. McGinnis is known for his illustrations of more than 1,200 paperback book covers,BiographyMcGinnis, Robert - Cavalier Galleries and over 40 movie posters, i ...
. To reflect the more sensual content of the novel, the cover depicted a couple in a full-embrace rather than subtly hinting at physical contact.McKnight-Trontz (2002), p. 24.


Influence

Avon followed its release of ''The Flame and the Flower'' with the 1974 publication of Woodiwiss's second novel, ''The Wolf and the Dove'' and two similarly themed romance novels by newcomer
Rosemary Rogers Rosemary Rogers (née Jansz; 7 December 1932 – 12 November 2019) was a Sri Lankan Burgher best-selling author of historical romance novels. Her first book, ''Sweet Savage Love'', was published in 1974. She was the second romance author, after ...
. In 1975, ''Publishers Weekly'' reported that these four "Avon originals" had sold a combined 8 million copies.Thurston, pp 47-48. Avon's "extraordinary success" led other paperback publishing firms to begin featuring original works by new authors. Avon became known as the premier publishing company for new writers of romance novels. Between 1972 and 1974, the popularity of gothic romances began to wane. The roots of this decline may lie in the
sexual revolution The sexual revolution, also known as the sexual liberation, was a social movement that challenged traditional codes of behavior related to sexuality and interpersonal relationships throughout the United States and the developed world from the 1 ...
and the feminist movement and are likely entwined with the success of ''The Flame and the Flower''. Women were more accepting of, and possibly actively looking for, increased sensuality in novels. This novel–along with Woodiwiss's second and the two Rogers books–essentially established a new style of romance writing, the erotic historical romance. In 1976, over 150 historical romance novels, many of them paperback originals, were published, selling over 40 million copies. These novels were historical fiction tracking the
monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of Dyad (sociology), dyadic Intimate relationship, relationship in which an individual has only one Significant other, partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time (Monogamy#Serial monogamy, ...
relationship between helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. This new type of novel, also occasionally referred to as an epic romance, featured longer plots and more intimate and steamy sex scenes. Female characters often travelled to exotic locations and historical incidents or issues were often used as plot points.Malhern (1989), p. 56. ''The Flame and the Flower'' directly inspired
LaVyrle Spencer LaVyrle Spencer (born July 17, 1943) is an American best-selling author of contemporary and historical romance novels. She has successfully published a number of books, with several of them made into movies. Twelve of her books have been ''New Y ...
and
Jude Deveraux Jude Deveraux (born September 20, 1947; née Jude Gilliam) is an American author of historical romances. Deveraux has written over 40 novels, many of which have been on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list, including such titles as ''A Knight ...
to begin their own careers as historical romance novelists. According to Deveraux, she began work on her first book, ''The Enchanted Land'', the day after she finished reading ''The Flame and the Flower'' Radway (2001), p. 230.


Sequels

*"The Kiss", an anthology from ''Three Weddings and a Kiss'', 1995 *"Beyond the Kiss", an anthology from ''Married at Midnight', 1996 *''A Season Beyond a Kiss'', 2000 *''The Elusive Flame'', 1998


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flame and the Flower 1972 American novels American romance novels Historical romance novels Novels about rape 1972 debut novels Avon (publisher) books