Samantha David and Heathcliff

I forgot to mention that I met week before last in London for dinner Samantha David, whose first novel, I Married a Pirate, will be published in July 2007 by Myrmidon Books who I do publicity for.

Needless to say being both women-of-literature we got into a discussion about romantic heros, and this was echoed by part 2 of the BBC TV series on romantic fiction, Reader, I Married Him last week. Samantha explained how her pirate hero was outrageous - short, fat, bad-mouthed - although he has redeeming qualities. On Reader, I Married Him, readers explained how they fell for that pyschopath Heathcliff from Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. While I admit that Heathcliff is passionate, is he a romantic hero? Not to me.