VIRGINIA HEATH

I’ve been feeling pretty good about myself lately. Not in an overt, boasting kind of way, you understand, as that wouldn’t be British. But from time to time I catch myself grinning and quietly take a moment to pat myself on the back. My writing career is on the up- another book comes out this month, a new contract to write more, nice reviews- my foolhardy gamble appears to have paid off. If I was of a mind to, I might even feel smug at my achievements and say well done you! Y

This year, for the very first time I joined the Romantic Novelists Association, a splendid and supportive organisation which champions British romance writers. I have to confess, I’m not really the sort of person who joins ‘clubs’ and so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect or how I would fit in. I went to a couple of the London chapter meetings and enjoyed the workshops, booked myself a place at the annual conference in Lancaster and couldn’t resist attending the High Tea o

Yes. You did just read the words ‘medicinal masturbation’ although it certainly was never called that in the 19th century! But more of that later. To start this little article, I need to talk to you about first about ‘hysteria’, a medical condition which was recognised and widely belied for two thousand years. It was a condition which was blamed for causing all manner of maladies in women from nervousness and stomach pain to lunacy. It was probably the Egyptians who first bel