The Look of Love: The Art of the Romance Novel

Swashbuckling sailors, dashing dukes, naughty nurses, and sexy stewardesses caught in webs of love, passion, betrayal, and are the raw materials of the romance novel–and the lusty covers that advertise them. In The Look of Love, Jennifer McKnight-Trontz provides a rollicking history of the covers and stoires that have captivated millions of readers worldwide. More than 150 of the most sensational covers from this venerable if venal literary form are shown in glorious color, focusing on the period from 1940 to 1970, romance design’s most fertile era. The Look of Love features artwork and excerpts from titles such as Passion Flower, Kept Woman, Rendezvous in Lisbon, and Jungle Nurse. Along the way, it brings attention to the pioneers of the romance cover artists such as Barye Phillips and Robert Maguire, who helped define the look of paperbacks in general, and Harlequin, the grand dame of romance publishers, with more than 100 million novels sold each year. McKnight-Trontz reveals the themes that typify both the story lines and the covers–hospital romance, the rich and raunchy, royalty, tropical paradises, Westerns, “taboo” relationships, pirates and warriors, and love triangles–resulting in this definitive compendium of camp. A book for romance lovers everywhere.