
A few years ago I decided to sell most of my old Mills & Boon novels along with a handful of Loveswept’s. My tastes had moved onto the larger Historical Romances. But there was one novel I couldn’t bring myself to part with, ‘The Black Cameron’, by Jean S. MacLeod, especially since it had the number one written on the cover. I thought perhaps somehow I had managed to find a copy of the first ever Mills & Boon.
I’ve since read up on the history of Mills & Boon and discovered that ‘The Black Cameron’ displayed the first rose logo. But something more important came out of my research and that was the lady behind the novel Ms MacLeod.
She was born the same year Mills & Boon debuted and sold her first novel ‘Life for Two’ to them in 1938.
Since then she has written 130 novels under numerous pen names. She was working on her 131st when she past away at the grand age of 103, in April this year (2011).
What an institution. What a dedication to romance.
The advice that shaped her style came from Michael Boon, the original proprietor’s son. ‘He told me never to write anything a mother wouldn't want her daughter to read.'
To read more on the life of Jean S. MacLeod see the link below.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1114443/Britains-oldest-romantic-novelist-spend-101st-birthday-working-130th-Mills--Boon-book.html#ixzz1T1CQmAAv
I’ve since read up on the history of Mills & Boon and discovered that ‘The Black Cameron’ displayed the first rose logo. But something more important came out of my research and that was the lady behind the novel Ms MacLeod.
She was born the same year Mills & Boon debuted and sold her first novel ‘Life for Two’ to them in 1938.
Since then she has written 130 novels under numerous pen names. She was working on her 131st when she past away at the grand age of 103, in April this year (2011).
What an institution. What a dedication to romance.
The advice that shaped her style came from Michael Boon, the original proprietor’s son. ‘He told me never to write anything a mother wouldn't want her daughter to read.'
To read more on the life of Jean S. MacLeod see the link below.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1114443/Britains-oldest-romantic-novelist-spend-101st-birthday-working-130th-Mills--Boon-book.html#ixzz1T1CQmAAv