Dozens of unseen Barbara Cartland novels to be published

There are even more happy endings in store for devotees of queen of romance Barbara Cartland as 160 previously unpublished novels, including 57 entirely unseen works, are being released 13 years after her death, on completion of a two-year digitisation project by her son Ian McCorquodale and UK publisher M-Y Books.

The books, some of which are already available through the author's website, are being brought out as The Pink Collection at a rate of two per month, giving readers a chance to re-connect with the distinctive Cartland style at a leisurely pace with such tales as The King Without a Heart, The Marquis is Trapped, and The Castle of Love.

Cartland's remaining 490 romantic novels, many of which were produced using old-fashioned lithograph print techniques in the days before digital printers, are also newly scanned into digital format and will be published as The Eternal Collection at a rate of four per month.

Jonathan Miller, M-Y Books managing director said: "Her fans all around the world are re-connecting with her writing. We're finding readers in the UK, US, an English-language readership in Germany and to a certain extent France, and, looking further afield, Brazil. We're going to be publishing her for at least the next couple of years." The novels are available as ebooks or in print-on-demand paperback.

Cartland wrote 650 romances, and was most prolific during the last 20 years of her life, writing right up until the year before she died at the age of 98.

Her trademark happy endings, where true love conquers all in a rather chaste fashion, won her a devoted following across the globe and her works were translated in 38 languages for an international audience including readers in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines. The Eternal Collection Spanish-language editions are also part of the new publishing schedule.

"The heroine is always at the centre of why they work out," Miller said. "They are independent, intelligent and self-reliant women. She explored the dynamic of her simple recipe: there is always a happy ending, but during the story she draws the reader into wondering if things will ever be resolved."