I was fascinated to read of research published in scientific journal PLOS ONE that has found that British writers today are less emotive in their writing than their counterparts of 100 years ago. Researchers examined five million books published between 1900 to 2000 to see how often emotive words – those that express love, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, anger and disgust – appeared. The study concluded that:

• Those writing at the turn of the 20th century used 14% more emotive words than those writing at the turn of the 21st century.
• Twice in the 100-year history the joy emotion peaked: after the First World War and in the 1960s.
• Contrastingly, following the Second World War there was a clear increase in words conveying sadness.
• Since 1960, fear-related words have steadily increased.
• American English has become more emotional than British English in the last 50 years.

As I read the reports of the research, I found myself thinking that this pulling back from emotion must relate to the heady rise in popularity of the romance novel. Think, for example, of the steady growth of the British romance imprint Mills & Boon since its launch in 1908. For even if every other genre of book has become a little less emotional, I can’t imagine that applies to the romance genre. And so readers hungry for real emotion – passion, love, anguish, joy – turn to romance novels, where authors are free to express all and take the reader on a emotional journey.

Happily, for the romance reader, I think there is little difference between British and American romance novels in terms of emotion. Because when we pick up a romance book – whatever the nationality or place of publication – we want pure escapism. And to me, escapism must include a call to the emotions. Books provide comfort and release, and a means to learn, grown and process our own feelings. After a long, hard day, you may be tired of your own thoughts and feelings, but when you pick up a novel and slip into another world, the passion and joy and excitement – and yes, even the fear and anger – that you find there are cathartic.

Emotive books matter. If all you read is unemotive books then the entire point of reading is lost. As British writer William Nicholson wrote, ‘We read to know that we are not alone.’ So when we’re curled up in a chair lost in a romance novel, we’re really not lost at all. When we’re ‘indulging in pure escapism’, we’re not really escaping at all. In the world of the romance novel, the reader is no floundering ship alone in the ocean – she’s connected to the world, part of the world, tapped in to all the emotion running through humanity. The romance reader is one of those courageous enough to feel, and that’s something to be admired indeed.