MILLS AND BOONS

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 publisher was bought by the Canadian company Harlequin Enterprises, with whom it had had a long informal partnership as its North American distributor. It has a number of imprints which between them account for almost three-quarters of the romance paperbacks published in Britain. The print books are, however, out sold and out numbered by the company's e-books, which have allowed the publisher to double its output. The publisher has been criticised for many things. Its books are considered low-brow and formulaic, although this has also been cited as one of the reasons for their success. More seriously, Mills & Boon novels have been condemned as misogynistic rape fantasies, even as hate speech, and they have been cited as responsible for poor sexual health and failed relationships among their readers. Modern Mills & Boon novels, over one hundred of which are released each month, cover a wide range of possible romantic sub-genres, varying in explicitness, setting and style, although retaining a comforting familiarity that meets reader expectations.