Nurse gothics?

[Penfeather]

I never thought much about this before, but I suddenly noticed that there seems to have been a trend in publishing during the '60s and '70s that amounted to a sub-genre in the pulp gothics industry, and that is nurse gothics (see attachments below for cover image examples).

Have any of you read any of these? I think I might have read one or two but didn't take especial notice that the heroine was a nurse. Of course it would be inevitable to have nurse protagonists (especially in contemporary-setting gothics) since there are only so many professions a young woman could be in that would logically put her into the locale of a strange house or mansion. In the old gothics the heroines were frequently governesses; in the modern ones they're almost always secretaries, or in this case nurses.

Any comments on this sub-genre?

[RareMale]

I think it's more of an overlap. There were (are?) a lot of non-Gothic Nurse romances, enough to make it a sub-genre of Romance in general. A lot of the Harlequins are Nurse/Doctor romances. There are even some Paranormal Nurse romances. Usually it's a "guy gets bitten by a wolf and goes to the hospital" type of thing. Hilarity does not ensue. Cassie Alexander has Nightshifted and Moonshifted, which have been on my Kindle for a year without being read.

[Penfeather]

I think it's more of an overlap. There were (are?) a lot of non-Gothic Nurse romances, enough to make it a sub-genre of Romance in general. A lot of the Harlequins are Nurse/Doctor romances. There are even some Paranormal Nurse romances. Usually it's a "guy gets bitten by a wolf and goes to the hospital" type of thing. Hilarity does not ensue. Cassie Alexander has Nightshifted and Moonshifted, which have been on my Kindle for a year without being read.

Thanks for clarifying! It seems that at one time nursing was seen as a "glamorous" vocation -- but then there were fewer career paths open to women.

[RareMale]

And there is also the overlap with TV. Most of the older soap operas were set in hospitals, so we had Nurse/Doctor romance there as well. Dark Shadows came out in the Gothic boom, and ended at about the time Gothic Romance went out and Bodice Rippers came in.

[RareMale]

While I was looking through Gothic Romance blogs, I found one for vintage Nurse romances:
http://vintagenurseromancenovels.blogspot.com/

[Penfeather]

While I was looking through Gothic Romance blogs, I found one for vintage Nurse romances:
http://vintagenurseromancenovels.blogspot.com/

Ha! Thank you -- what a hoot!

[Cherchezlafemme]

A nurse also had a reason to be in the broody hero's bedroom or in constant proximity to him!

[RougarouLady]

I'm kinda new to Gothic romances(i've been a fan of Rebecca and Wuthering Heights for years!!) and just started reading as many as i can get my hands on. Never have I read the nurse gothics but now I really really want to!! Thriftbooks is a great place to find alot of these books.

[Edgar Theodore Machen]

I never thought much about this before, but I suddenly noticed that there seems to have been a trend in publishing during the '60s and '70s that amounted to a sub-genre in the pulp gothics industry, and that is nurse gothics (see attachments below for cover image examples).  

Have any of you read any of these? I think I might have read one or two but didn't take especial notice that the heroine was a nurse.  Of course it would be inevitable to have nurse protagonists (especially in contemporary-setting gothics) since there are only so many professions a young woman could be in that would logically put her into the locale of a strange house or mansion.  In the old gothics the heroines were frequently governesses; in the modern ones they're almost always secretaries, or in this case nurses.

Any comments on this sub-genre?

Correction - the heroines of early and mature Gothic novels were either orphans, or runaways ... If the action took place in the Middle Ages, it was a noble lady. The heroines of the romances where the actions took place at the time of the writing of the text (late 18 - early 19) could also be from the petty nobility. They are united not by origin but by character traits. But after the Jane Eyre the governesses were in vogue.

[BrianHare]

Percy Janes is known primarily for his novel House of Hate. This book is a sprawling, detailed, sometimes rambling story of one Newfoundland family – a good story! Definitely worth a read.

Yes, House of Hate is a great novel by Percy Janes. Sometimes fast-paced, sometimes slow, but a great storyline. One of my all-time favorites.