FEMINISM FINDS A VOICE IN...ROMANCE NOVELS?

Romance novels and feminism aren't usually thought of as going hand and hand.But as Associate Professor Marjorie Farrell discovered, beneath the "awful covers" the heroine is often far stronger and more independent than depicted.

Farrell, who teaches writing, literature and human development courses in the Adult Baccalaureate College, recently published her eighth historical romance novel, "Desert Hearts."Her romance writing career began when she was working on her dissertation, which focused on women's development and literature.Becoming "totally blocked," Farrell started reading historical romances, and discovered that there was actually some very good writing under the off-putting covers.

Because Farrell had always loved history and historical novels, she decided to try writing a romance novel herself, and soon had sold two books."I enjoy the research and developing my initial ideas," says Farrell, but the writing is hard work."

Farrell explains, "I develop ideas for my books by taking something interesting from my life, or from current political or social issues -- particularly a women's issue -- and then bounce it back a couple of centuries and think how it would be then."

"For example," she continues, "I'm a single parent, so in my second book, I made the main character also a single parent."In another novel, which examines one of today's prominent issues, the main character is a battered wife who kills her husband, which allowed Farrell to look at both the legal ramifications in the book's settingback in the 1800s, and also explore the character's psychology and development.

Farrell's most recent book, "Desert Hearts," is her first book set in this country.The hero is a character who, because of the famine, comes to America from Ireland in the 1800s.He joins the calvary and ends up in New Mexico at the time the Navajo are being displaced from their territory.

Farrell's idea for the story came from a little known fact she discovered in her research, that during the Irish famine the Choctaw Indians had collected and sent $700 to Irish people." It fascinated me that these Choctaw people who had so recently gone through their own "trail of tears" had such compassion."

Now working on her ninth novel, Farrell notes that she has grown as a writer in her ability to handle more characters and subplots.She says that romance novels have changed over the last ten years, reflecting the changing times.The books, written by women for women, have a distinct feminist side to them.

But what about those covers?Farrell says unfortunately, the writers have no control over them."Although," she admits, "in general they have gotten a little better."