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The Flame and the Flower
by Kathleen E. WoodiwissSeries: Birmingham #1
Published by Avon on January 1, 1972
SubGenres: Historical Romance
Format: AudioBook, eBook
Pages: 512
Narrator: Ashford McNab
Length: 18 Hours And 46 Minutes
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Audience: 18+/Adult
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Doomed to a life of unending toil, Heather Simmons fears for her innocence—until a shocking, desperate act forces her to flee . . . and to seek refuge in the arms of a virile and dangerous stranger.
A lusty adventurer married to the sea, Captain Brandon Birmingham courts scorn and peril when he abducts the beautiful fugitive from the tumultuous London dockside. But no power on Earth can compel him to relinquish his exquisite prize. For he is determined to make the sapphire-eyed lovely his woman . . . and to carry her off to far, uncharted realms of sensuous, passionate love.
I’ve always been curious about the Bodice Rippers from the 70s and 80s, and figured it was time to give them a try. I’ve never read one before, not even in my teens. Back then, I was obsessed with horror and fantasy books that were highly inappropriate for me, but my parents weren’t really strict on what I read or even watched, especially since my parents knew how much reading meant to me. It wasn’t until my twenties that I read Romance, and I haven’t looked back.
I took heed of the warnings about what to expect from Bodice Rippers, and the first two chapters in Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower definitely made me uncomfortable and feel terrible for the heroine, Heather. I’m used to reading modern dark romance books, so I’m familiar with certain things, but this book had SA right away in the first two chapters, and I felt for Heather the whole time. Not only was she SA’d by the hero, Brandon, but before that, someone else attempted SA on her, though she got away. (Thank goodness. Although she thinks she did something to that person and now has every reason to flee.)
I had to remind myself several times while reading The Flame and the Flower that this book was written in a different era, and the book was set in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Nothing in this book would be acceptable in today’s world, especially what Brandon did to Heather.
That being said, I was genuinely surprised I enjoyed this book, even with the problematic content. This book set the stage for what romance books would become, and I really loved Heather. She’s innocent throughout and just wants independence from the family that treats her horribly. Her Aunt is British, and Heather is Irish, and if you know the history between the Irish and British, you’ll understand why the Irish don’t like the British monarchy. I didn’t care for Heather’s Aunt and couldn’t wait for Heather to leave her behind. But, the waythe heroine leaves her is all due to being forced into a marriage, after she gets pregnant with the hero’s baby. (which he doesn’t know until he eventually sees her again.)
The whole time I was reading, I was curious how the author would redeem Brandon because I don’t know about other readers who read this book, but I really didn’t like his alpha-like qualities. (They went to the extreme, but once again I reminded myself this book was written in a different era.) The way he treated Heather most of the time was over the top, and I just wanted her to run away, but then there were occasions when he took on a shopping spree and gave her free rein to do whatever in his house that he started to redeem himself. He was just that over-the-top possession male that some readers will want nothing to do with.
Towards the end of the book, when Heather is in danger with someone who played a role in the first half of the book, I really started to like Brandon. No one messed with Heather and got away with it.
Even though this book made me uncomfortable at times, I did really enjoy reading it. It was told in third person, which I’ve always enjoyed reading, and I loved Kathleen’s writing style. She was very detailed and descriptive, even during scenes that were very uncomfortable, which I skimmed over, but other than that, I could understand why this book was popular back in the day. It pushed boundaries and started the way for romance with explicit sexual content.
Overall, I give this book 4.5 stars, and I’m glad I finally picked up my first Bodice Ripper. That being said, this book isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like reading books where women are treated like property or scenes with nonconsensual or dubious content, I don’t recommend this book. It also has other triggering content that may bother other readers. I’ll try to list the TW that I noticed while reading this book at the bottom of my review.
Would I recommend this book? I would recommend this book to readers who have read Bodice Rippers before and don’t mind the content. But, as I stated before, this book isn’t going to be for everyone, so heed the warnings that you hear about the Bodice Rippers of the 1970s/1980s.
What to Expect:
✔️Historical Romance/Bodice Ripper Romance
✔️Forced Marriage/Marriage of Convenience
✔️Surprise Pregnancy
✔️Alpha Hero
✔️Innocent & Sheltered Heroine
✔️Non-Consensual/Dubious Consent Scenes
Content Warnings: Sexual Assault Rape (On Page), Pregnancy (After Rape), Dubious Consent/Coercive, Forced Marriage, Emotional Abuse/Controlling Behavior from Hero, Prejudice/Bigotry/Racism, Colonial/Plantation Setting.
About Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Kathleen Erin Hogg was born on June 3, 1939, in Alexandria, Louisiana, she was the youngest of eight siblings by Gladys (Coker) and Charles Wingrove Hogg, a disabled World War I veteran. She long relished creating original narratives, and by age 6 was telling herself stories at night to help herself fall asleep. At age 16, she met U.S. Air Force Second Lieutenant Ross Eugene Woodiwiss at a dance, and they married the following year. She wrote her first book in longhand while living at a military outpost in Japan.
She is credited with the invention of the modern historical romance novel: In 1972 she released The Flame and the Flower, an instant New York Times bestseller that created a literary precedent. The novel revolutionized mainstream publishing, featuring an epic historical romance with a strong heroine and impassioned sex scenes. The Flame and the Flower was rejected by agents and hardcover publishers, who deemed it as "too long" at 600 pages. Rather than follow the advice of the rejection letters and rewrite the novel, she instead submitted it to paperback publishers. The first publisher on her list, Avon, quickly purchased the novel and arranged an initial 500,000 print run. The novel sold over 2.3 million copies in its first four years of publication.
The success of The Flame and the Flower prompted a new style of writing romance, concentrating primarily on historical fiction tracking the monogamous relationship between a helpless heroines and the hero who rescued her, even if he had been the one to place her in danger. The romance novels which followed in her example featured longer plots, more controversial situations and characters, and more intimate and steamy sex scenes.
She was an avid horse rider who at one time lived in a large home on 55 acres (220,000 m2) in Minnesota. After her husband's death in 1996, she moved back to Louisiana. She died in a hospital on July 6, 2007 in Princeton, Minnesota, aged 68, from cancer. She was survived by two sons, Sean and Heath, their wives, and numerous grandchildren. Her third son, Dorren, predeceased her.
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