I never thought much about this before, but I suddenly noticed that there seems to have been a trend in publishing during the '60s and '70s that amounted to a sub-genre in the pulp gothics industry, and that is nurse gothics (see attachments below for cover image examples).
Have any of you read any of these? I think I might have read one or two but didn't take especial notice that the heroine was a nurse. Of course it would be inevitable to have nurse protagonists (especially in contemporary-setting gothics) since there are only so many professions a young woman could be in that would logically put her into the locale of a strange house or mansion. In the old gothics the heroines were frequently governesses; in the modern ones they're almost always secretaries, or in this case nurses.
Any comments on this sub-genre?
I think it's more of an overlap. There were (are?) a lot of non-Gothic Nurse romances, enough to make it a sub-genre of Romance in general. A lot of the Harlequins are Nurse/Doctor romances. There are even some Paranormal Nurse romances. Usually it's a "guy gets bitten by a wolf and goes to the hospital" type of thing. Hilarity does not ensue. Cassie Alexander has Nightshifted and Moonshifted, which have been on my Kindle for a year without being read.
(08-28-2013, 04:59 PM)RareMale Wrote: [ -> ]I think it's more of an overlap. There were (are?) a lot of non-Gothic Nurse romances, enough to make it a sub-genre of Romance in general. A lot of the Harlequins are Nurse/Doctor romances. There are even some Paranormal Nurse romances. Usually it's a "guy gets bitten by a wolf and goes to the hospital" type of thing. Hilarity does not ensue. Cassie Alexander has Nightshifted and Moonshifted, which have been on my Kindle for a year without being read.
Thanks for clarifying! It seems that at one time nursing was seen as a "glamorous" vocation -- but then there were fewer career paths open to women.
And there is also the overlap with TV. Most of the older soap operas were set in hospitals, so we had Nurse/Doctor romance there as well. Dark Shadows came out in the Gothic boom, and ended at about the time Gothic Romance went out and Bodice Rippers came in.
A nurse also had a reason to be in the broody hero's bedroom or in constant proximity to him!
I'm kinda new to Gothic romances(i've been a fan of Rebecca and Wuthering Heights for years!!) and just started reading as many as i can get my hands on. Never have I read the nurse gothics but now I really really want to!! Thriftbooks is a great place to find alot of these books.
(08-28-2013, 02:20 AM)Penfeather Wrote: [ -> ]I never thought much about this before, but I suddenly noticed that there seems to have been a trend in publishing during the '60s and '70s that amounted to a sub-genre in the pulp gothics industry, and that is nurse gothics (see attachments below for cover image examples). Â
Have any of you read any of these? I think I might have read one or two but didn't take especial notice that the heroine was a nurse. Â Of course it would be inevitable to have nurse protagonists (especially in contemporary-setting gothics) since there are only so many professions a young woman could be in that would logically put her into the locale of a strange house or mansion. Â In the old gothics the heroines were frequently governesses; in the modern ones they're almost always secretaries, or in this case nurses.
Any comments on this sub-genre?
Correction - the heroines of early and mature Gothic novels were either orphans, or runaways ... If the action took place in the Middle Ages, it was a noble lady. The heroines of the romances where the actions took place at the time of the writing of the text (late 18 - early 19) could also be from the petty nobility. They are united not by origin but by character traits. But after the Jane Eyre the governesses were in vogue.
Quote:Percy Janes is known primarily for his novel House of Hate. This book is a sprawling, detailed, sometimes rambling story of one Newfoundland family – a good story! Definitely worth a read.
Yes,
House of Hate is a great novel by Percy Janes. Sometimes fast-paced, sometimes slow, but a great storyline. One of my all-time favorites.