Purpose: Anais Nin, famous essayist and diarist states that “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” That is especially true in historical romance, which allows readers to enter the thoughts of those who have moulded our world and envision the all-too humane side of history. Reading is a time-honored activity that is universally regarded as a form of escapism and creativity.Methodology: This simple task becomes difficult when the readers are women, the reading environment is patriarchal, and the reading material is romance written by women. The women readers in India whose remarks this study is based on all agreed that reading these novels was a lot of fun. They did, however, admit to being embarrassed by their enthusiasm for these works, because their enthusiasm appeared to contradict the popular view of these novels,which is that they are ‘trash’. Before getting into the ideological underpinnings of this phenomenon, it's crucial to understand what Romance Fiction is and what it comprises.Findings/Result: These historical romances are classified as popular fiction, which leads to the study of popular culture, of which they are a part. 'The art of romance' is an essential and logical reaction to a lot of great constraints in India, where culture denies women the choice to discover themselves and their own desire. Women can cognitively prepare to protect themselves against the atrocities of male domination by consuming romance novels.Paper type: Exploratory research paper

Historical romance/ romance fiction, escapism, Indian women, trash, popular fiction