Charlotte Lamb

War stories, westerns, spy stories are all accepted as respectable because they are read by men. It is only women's light reading which is derided.

If you want to talk about a subject that is important to women, romantic fiction is the place to talk about it because that's where your audience is.

A romantic novel is an adult fairy story, repeating the recurring symbols and images which can explain life to a woman and satisfy a powerful need within her. The need to love and be loved is vital to all human beings, but especially to women.

I think love is always going to be the most important subject for women.

Writers and readers are still trying to work out unresolved problems between men and women, and that is why millions of women around the world are hooked on romantic fiction. So am I.