Harlequin's Historical Novels Part IV

"If the historical novel continues to exert a particular fascination on our imagination, it surely has to do with its curious ability to reclaim the past, to use it as a tool for shattering the sameness - the inevitability - of the present."

                            Steven Hayward, Globe & Mail February 25, 2012

This comment in a review of a historical novel caught my attention.

Do any of Toronto publisher Harlequin's 45 historical novels by 30 authors that showed up in Canadian newsstands and drug stores between 1949 and 1959 "reclaim the past"? I don't know. I haven't read any and would need some training to assess how a novel might "reclaim the past". So I'll use the comment as an excuse to list the novels and show off a few covers. 

Harlequin #     1 - The Manatee - Nancy Bruff - 1949 

Harlequin #   11 - The Wicked Lady Skelton - Magdalen King Hall - 1949 (reprinted as #181)

Harlequin #   31 - The Golden Feather - Theda Kenyon - 1950 

Harlequin #   34 - Mobtown Clipper - S.S. Rabl - 1950 

Harlequin #   65   Bridewell Beauty - H.M.E. Clamp - 1950 

Harlequin # 113 - Beyond The Blue Mountains - Jean Plaidy - 1951 

Harlequin # 138 - Emma Hart - Lozania Prole - 1951 

Harlequin # 141 - Roger Sudden - Thomas H. Raddall - 1951 

Harlequin # 152 - Great Oaks - Ben Ames Williams - 1952 

Harlequin # 164 - Captain For Elizabeth - Jan Westcott - 1952 

Harlequin # 169 - Lady Of Cleves - Margaret Campbell Barnes - 1952 

Harlequin # 170 - The Sea Is So Wide - Evelyn Eaton - 1952 

Harlequin # 178 - The Goldsmith's Wife - Jean Plaidy - 1952 

Harlequin # 179 - Madame Serpent - Jean Plaidy - 1952 

Harlequin # 184 - Black Jade - Angeline Taylor - 1952 

Harlequin # 189 - The Nymph And The Lamp - Thomas H. Raddall - 1952 

Harlequin # 190 - Slave Ship - H.B. Drake - 1952 

Harlequin # 193 - The Firebrand - George Challis - 1952 

Harlequin # 196 - His Majesty's Yankees - Thomas H. Raddall - 1952 

Harlequin # 203 - Daughter Of Satan - Jean Plaidy - 1952 

Harlequin # 207 - Three Ships West - Harry Symons - 1953 

Harlequin # 208 - Pillar Of Fire - George Borodin - 1953 

Harlequin # 209 - The Rock Cried Out - Edward Stanley - 1953 

Harlequin # 215 - Turn Back The River - W.G. Hardy - 1953 

Harlequin # 217 - The Sea Hawk - Rafael Sabatini - 1953 

Harlequin # 225 - Sir Rusty Sword - Phillip Lindsay - 1953 

Harlequin # 237 - Island Of Escape - Alexander Key - 1953 

Harlequin # 247 - Dark Surgery - Ben Ames Williams - 1953 

Harlequin # 261 - Light In The Wilderness - E.B. Osler - 1953 

Harlequin # 266 - Catalina - W. Somerset Maugham - 1954 

Harlequin # 268 - The Unholy Woman - Jean Plaidy - 1954 

Harlequin # 269 - Queen Jezebel - Jean Plaidy - 1954 

Harlequin # 272 - The Fabulous Nell Gwynne - Lozania Prole - 1954 

Harlequin # 276 - Conflict - E.V. Timms - 1954 

Harlequin # 278 - The Bait And The Trap - George Challis - 1954 

Harlequin # 280 - The Nut Brown Maid - Philip Lindsay - 1954 

Harlequin # 286 - Colonel Blood - Max Peacock - 1954 

Harlequin # 290 - The Violent Years - E.V. Timms - 1954 

Harlequin # 298 - Pride's Fancy - Thomas H. Raddall - 1954 

Harlequin # 301 - Mary Read, Buccaneer - Philip Rush - 1954 

Harlequin # 303 - Captain Gentleman - Verne Fletcher - 1954 

Harlequin # 318 - The Half-Breed - M. Constantin-Weyer - 1954 

Harlequin # 330 - Convict Town - E.V. Timms - 1955 

Harlequin # 331 - Woman in Chains - E.V. Timms - 1955 

Harlequin # 373 - Tonight, Josephine! - Lozania Prole - 1956 

Harlequin 11 - September 1949

Harlequin 31 - February 1950

Harlequin 65 - August 1950

Harlequin 141 - December 1951

Harlequin 170 - May 1952

Harlequin 196 - November 1952