The year is 1849, and archaeologists are busy digging up the Iraqi city of Nineveh. There they find a library of clay tablets dating back some 4,000 years ago, and belonging to the ancient Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumer. On these tablets was inscribed The Epic of...
How one Jacqueline WIlson book taught me my Mum was more than ‘mental’ and why we should treat the ‘maddened mother’ trope with more nuance. “What is a Bitch?” I asked. I sat cross-legged on my floor, nestled between my Sylvanian families, balancing Mr...
In a world where social media is adding to the countless romance titles on our ‘to be read’ lists, are our favourite book men setting the bar too high when it comes to our standards and turning us into toxic women? If you were to ask a single, heterosexual female...
From ‘sliding into someone’s DM’s’ to swiping right on a dating profile, the digital era has changed how romance blossoms. There is nothing quite like modern-day romance. This new avenue into dating has not been ignored by romance writers either. There are several...
Two young women speak up about their experiences navigating age-gap relationships and how fiction strongly influenced their romantic ideals. It was a cool November when Hana Ong, 21, walked into her classroom at Hiroshima University. It was the first day of a new...
From enemies to lovers to age-gap relationships, when it comes to romance we all have our preferences. But some tropes are just plain ridiculous and can actually normalise and perpetuate harmful behaviours. We’re asking you to rank these 10 romance tropes from...
