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Romance Unlaced: Historical authors on arranged marriages

Madeline Hunter
Special for USA TODAY
"By Arrangement" by Madeline Hunter.

When my first book was being prepared for production, my publisher changed its title. I forget what my original title had been, but I liked it at the time. Instead, I was told the new title would be By Arrangement. Being generally clueless about everything back then, I was less than excited.

My agent, however, thought it was brilliant. She explained to me that readers love, love, love arranged-marriage stories and the title made it explicit what was inside the cover. She was right. They are so popular that for decades writers of contemporary romances have finagled ways to use the scenario. They are naturals for historical romances, however, because arranged marriages were historical facts of life.

On the face of it you would not expect readers to love them so much. An arranged marriage implies the heroine succumbed to family pressure, financial exigency, or some other kind of coercion, rather than make a free choice. There is nothing kick-ass about that. At the outset such marriages are not at all romantic either. The potential down side is enormous. In the hands of a good writer, however, an arranged marriage can be among the most romantic and even most empowering situations in which to put a romance's main characters.

I asked a group of historical romance authors to share their thoughts about this enduring trope.

For Jo Beverley, whose recent Seduction in Silk features an arranged marriage, it is one of her favorite story lines. She has nine other arranged-marriage novels on her list. She thinks a large part of the appeal is the story's forced intimacy between strangers. "Even before sex, or without sex in the book, the two people are forced to leap a lot of normal stages of intimacy. Cut to the chase, in fact. This is particularly powerful in historicals where society's taboos against intimacy could be so much stronger."

"The Elusive Wife" by Callie Hutton.

Callie Hutton, author of The Elusive Wife, thinks the appeal includes readers "wondering how they would handle being married to a stranger. But since we always make our heroes sexually appealing, it adds to the 'thrill' of the situation. Who hasn't dreamt of having permissible sex with a hot stranger?"

Jo Goodman, author of In Want of a Wife, sees another aspect. "The appeal of these stories centers around hopefulness, the idea that individuals can learn and grow and that a couple can evolve. Successful relationships aren't static, and one senses that people can have their eyes opened to the goodness in another. (Either that, or it's Stockholm Syndrome for the heroine.)"

Vanessa Kelly, author of His Mistletoe Bride, also mentioned hopefulness, and added her thoughts about the story line's appeal. "They're really high-stakes stories — strangers forced into a relationship who must figure out a way to make it work. All relationships are hard work, but arranged marriages especially so. And the trope sure keeps the relationship front and center in the book. Two people facing genuine challenges — including their own emotional resistance to each other — who defy the odds and find their HEA despite the fact that they don't start out as soul mates recognizing each other across a crowded room. "

I asked if they thought the heroine's situation made the story line less appealing today. Callie Hutton thought not. "I don't think they're less popular, and expectations of today's reader might even make them more enjoyable because these women rarely go to the arranged marriages weak and willing."

Cindy Holby, author of Breath of Heaven, agreed. "Of course it depends on the time period. Since Breath of Heaven is a medieval, it makes much more sense. There are only so many (sub)genres it will work in. And I did not sacrifice Eliane's strength of character for the situation."

"His Mistletoe Bride" by Vanessa Kelly.

Vanessa Kelly thinks they are as popular as ever, but also suspects they work best in historical fiction. "My readers often tell me how much they love arranged-marriage stories, perhaps because it allows the author to escape some of the other conventions of the romance genre. But maybe it works better in a historical rather than contemporary setting, where readers might balk at the notion of such a radical loss of control. But in the hands of a skilled writer, it can work beautifully. There's so much conflict and drama inherent in the arranged-marriage scenario!"

Jo Beverley understands why some readers may not be fans of the trope, but thinks it has a lot of variety in it that readers may not realize. "Some readers seem to dislike heroines making sacrifices for their family, and when the arranged marriage is forced, that's often the situation. I can see where the reader reaction comes from, especially when women are often still expected to put the needs of others first, but if the author can make the stakes high enough the heroine's sacrifice can be heroic. However, in my first arranged-marriage book the marriage is consensual because I was so tired of forced marriage, and in the second, as a twist, both the hero and heroine are forced."

Since these are marriages, sooner or later there is going to be sex. Authors have a variety of ways of handling that. Often, the plot or the time period affects the writer's choices.

"Breath of Heaven" by Cindy Holby.

"Breath of Heaven is a lot sexier than any book I've ever written," Cindy Holby explains. In her book, the hero is honor-bound to marry the daughter of the man who saved his life. "To protect her, Rhys pretty much had to make sure the wedding was consummated. He is overcome with guilt because he did it. Eliane holds no resentment because of the time she lives in and she understands why it happened. She is curious about what should happen between a man and woman. And of course they are both very much attracted to each other."

That attraction makes all the difference in the world, of course. It is why arranged-marriage stories work. And if the intimacy is delayed, it is what makes the story progress. "I deliberately made them wait until they were more familiar with each other. That also built the tension," Jo Goodman says.

"Seduction in Silk" by Jo Beverley.

"In Seduction in Silk the intimacy is subtle for some time because Claris agrees to the marriage with the condition that it won't be consummated," Jo Beverley explains. "Even so, they are strangers who are bound together for life, so even the slight intimacies that come from living together have power."

Vanessa Kelly used the same slow build. "Even though Phoebe and Lucas are married by the mid-point of the book and do become sexually intimate, I didn't push the actual consummation of the marriage. It made sense to me that my heroine would not want to rush, since she would see that as an emotional tipping point in the relationship. And since my hero is a good guy, he's naturally going to let her take her time getting comfortable with him. That enabled me to ramp up the sexual tension and highlight the hero's slow but steady seduction of his wife. I think it actually upped the sensuality inherent in the story."

There are all kinds of arranged-marriage stories, but they have in common a marriage between strangers, brought about for reasons other than love. Cindy's marriage of duty is popular in medieval books. The dynastic or inheritance imperative is the most common story line that readers find in Georgian and 19th-century-set stories.

"When Major Lucas Stanton inherits an earldom, he also inherits a commitment to marry the previous earl's granddaughter — a young Quaker woman from America," Vanessa explains of His Mistletoe Bride. "When Phoebe Linville arrives in England after the death of her grandfather, she's stunned to learn she's expected to marry his heir — a stranger whose way of life is the opposite of everything she believes in."

Jo Beverley's Seduction in Silk takes another twist on such a dynastic plot. "Claris Mallow has survived her parents' tormented marriage and even though she's living in a cottage on a very small income she has no intention of marrying. Perry Perriam has no more interest in marriage than she, but when he's named heir to Perriam Manor, he must force her to marry him or his family will lose their ancient estate."

Callie Hutton's The Elusive Wife gives the story line yet another angle. "By virtue of his father's will, Jason, Earl of Coventry, must marry Lady Jane Grant, the old Earl's goddaughter, in order to inherit all of his father's un-entailed property and money. They've never met, and prior to the wedding Jason spends the night getting so drunk he doesn't remember what his wife looks like, so when he meets her in a London ballroom, and introduces himself as if he were a stranger, she is set on revenge."

"In Want of a Wife" by Jo Goodman.

Jo Goodman's In Want of a Wife takes the mail-order-bride theme. In such books the arranged marriage is normally a mutual agreement between two strangers and set in the Western USA, featuring ranchers and cowboys. "Jane Middlebourne and Morgan Longstreet mutually agree to an arranged marriage that is based on correspondence and an exchange of photographs, but as they quickly learn, it is what each of them held back that will challenge their resolve and ultimate happiness."

Such a story line has a lot to offer writers, but it comes with challenges, too. Jo Beverley sums them up. "(Creating) believable situations and motivations (is the main challenge). In most historicals getting out of the marriage will be close to impossible. If either hero or heroine is reluctant, what can push them to agree to such a life-changing step? If either the hero or heroine is forcing the marriage, what drives them to such domineering behavior? Even if the marriage is a calmly arranged one, why do they both agree to it?"

Callie Hutton adds one more challenge. "Making it believable that two strangers can fall in love by the end of the story. Especially since we tend to throw lots of obstacles in their way."

When writers meet those challenges, readers love seeing the emotional and sensual development, as two strangers marry first, then fall in love!

USA TODAY and New York Times bestseller Madeline Hunter is the two-time RITA-winning author of 25 historical romances. Her most recent book, The Accidental Duchess, was published June 3. You can find her at www.MadelineHunter.com. To contact Madeline about content for or in this column, please e-mail her at RomanceUnlaced @ gmail.com (close up the spaces). Due to the volume of mail, e-mails from authors may not be answered personally, but all will be read.

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