In my analysis I intend to show how these novels aesthetizise history and exotify Otherness and, in this process, they contribute to reinforce the hierarchies of power (between colonists and colonized, and men and women). [...] certain identity myths related to conventional definitions of Irishness and Britishness are re-inscribed. On the other hand, Robards’ novels perfectly illustrate the contradictory nature of romance with respect to its representation of gender conventions: while they are ideologically regressive (in their perpetuation of some patriarchal models of femininity and masculinity), they can also be understood as transgressive (in their finding inventive ways for their female characters to achieve their sexual and social liberation). (99)