This week we hear from Becky Bavill, Library and Digital Assistant, who brings us a quick, but perplexing and intriguing, look at the mystery of a Leeds author of romantic fiction…

You can hear much more about the broader history of romantic fiction in an upcoming talk, taking place at the Central Library on the evening of Thursday March 21. Please see Leeds Inspired for more details, including how to register for attendance.

In the ‘local authors’ section of the Local and Family History department at the Central Library is a special collection: romance novels, from the 1970s and 1980s, by three different authors. Some of the books are contemporary, some are gothic, and some are classic Regency affairs.  All have glorious covers offering you a delicious piece of escapism. But who are our local authors? 

Well, I contacted several publishers, I contacted the Romantic Novelists Association of Great Britain; in desperation I even phoned a name that matched in the Leeds phone book, but to no avail.  Several sources on the internet tell me that two of the names are a pseudonym for the third, but I can’t be wholly sure of this.  So if anyone thinks they know Brenda Castle, who also wrote as Rachelle Edwards and Georgina Ferrand, in a career spanning at least 1972 to 2010, please put us out of our misery!  We’d love to show them the lovely display we’ve made of their beautiful books. Can anyone help us find Brenda so we can tell her how much we love her books?