In Praise of the Red-Headed Hero!

Okay, I'll lay my cards on the table here. I LOVE red hair and I've always wanted to be a redhead myself. Sadly in my family the red-haired gene goes every second generation and I was the one in between so I ended up with "mouse" instead. Maybe that's why I have written a number of red-haired heroines in my books and secretly wanted to be them.

Red-headed heroines are something of a staple in historical romance. Usually they are feisty and wilful. People complain this is a stereotype but if it is, there is enough truth in it to be defensible. Both my mother and my mother-in-law are redheads and they are both "spirited" women and I don't think they would mind me saying so! Red-haired heroines are generally gorgeous.

But when it comes to the red-headed man, the hero with auburn hair, it seems to be a different matter. There don't seem to be many of them. Some readers say they don't find them attractive. And in real life in the UK – and maybe elsewhere – there's sometimes a nasty prejudice called gingerism that makes fun of people with red hair. (There are also people who make blonde jokes as well, of course.) So when it came to writing Mistress By Midnight and I realised that I was imagining Garrick, my hero, as a man with auburn hair and brown eyes, I was in a bit of a quandary. Should I change his hair colour to black instead? Or should I stand up for the red-haired hero and say "this guy is gorgeous"? I decided to go with the latter. But what do YOU think? Are you a fan of the red-haired hero or do they not work for you? Are there any books or films you enjoyed that featured a ginger hero? (It's the word ginger, isn't it – fine for the spice, not so good to describe a hair colour). Do you think it's because there are so few good-looking redheaded male actors or celebrities around to inspire us? Am I alone in my fixation with red hair? Tell me what you think!

©2010 Nicola Cornick. All Rights Reserved.

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