Culture chat: How ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ broke the romance lit taboo

Romance is fiction’s top-selling genre. And ‘romantasy’, where romance meets fantasy, has become a literary phenomenon. That’s thanks to the novel we’re discussing today, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and its writer, Sarah J Maas. Also known as ACOTAR, this is the first novel in Maas’ five-book series. It tells the story of a human girl who is taken captive in a faerie kingdom, and falls in love with one of its aristocratic lords. Maas’s books have sold more than 38mn copies worldwide — spawning memes, tattoos and immersive fan clubs. What is its appeal, and why has ‘romantasy’ exploded in recent years? 

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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall): 

– Madison Darbyshire’s piece, ‘Hot stuff: why readers fall in love with romance novels’ is here: https://on.ft.com/3YiLEQ1 

– A profile of Sara J Maas, by Anna Nicolaou: https://on.ft.com/4deUD9h 

– For more summer reads, check out Laura Battle’s selection of the best summer fiction books here. 

– Laura is on X @battlelaura. Madison is @MADarbyshire. 

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Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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