Charlotte Lamb

“When men learnt to talk in the beginning of the civilised word they used language not as a means of communication alone but as a means of excluding others--using it as a way of setting themselves apart and shutting out strangers.”

“Maybe our marriage is bound to be a fight, but it will have its compensations. Fights that end in bed have their own singular excitement, remember.”

“I am interested in writing how women really feel, how they really think, and how they respond to men. I don't want men reading my books because they might find out too much.”

“I think love is always going to be the most important subject for women.”

“I don't care much for diamonds,' Nicola had told him.'Have you ever been offered any?' he had asked, and he had been making fun of her, his face mocking.'Not that I can remember,' Nicola had admitted calmly.'And how would an offer be received?' he had asked, as though he knew the answer.'With a kick in the teeth,' Nicola had said, meeting his eye.”

“I think printed fiction is what women read.”

“Romantic fiction is the only purely feminine art form. All other art forms were shaped and are dominated by men.”

“Words were only an approximation of meaning. The meaning escaped between the words, dissolved, disappeared, like fog fading away between iron bars.”

“If you want to talk about a subject that is important to women, romantic fiction is the place to talk about it because that's where your audience is.”

“Writers and readers are still trying to work out unresolved problems between men and women, and that is why millions of women around the world are hooked on romantic fiction. So am I.”

“War stories, westerns, spy stories are all accepted as respectable because they are read by men. It is only women's light reading which is derided.”

“A romantic novel is an adult fairy story, repeating the recurring symbols and images which can explain life to a woman and satisfy a powerful need within her. The need to love and be loved is vital to all human beings, but especially to women.”