Harlequin Books was founded by Richard Bonnycastle in 1949. Specialising in reprints of British and American books, the first 400 titles under the Harlequin imprint were a varied collection of westerns, thrillers, craft books and classics. It was the inclusion of romance titles which formed the foundations of Harlequin's development into a leading publisher of romance fiction.

In 1957 Harlequin began buying the rights to romance novels from the English firm Mills & Boon Ltd. So successful were these Doctor Nurse romances that the Canadian Company began to concentrate on selling them and by 1964 romance fiction comprised the entire Harlequin list.

In the late 1960s Harlequin began a period of extraordinary expansion that propelled it into the international stage following the 1971 acquisition of Mills & Boon Ltd, then the largest romance publisher in the English speaking world. By the end of the decade, Harlequin's overseas acquisitions and partnerships were taking the company's brand of love stories to bookshelves around the world. In 1975 Harlequin Holland was opened, followed by a joint venture in Germany. Harlequin France, Sweden, Japan and Greece soon followed as well as another joint venture in Italy. In 1981, Canadian communications giant Torstar Corporation completed its purchase of the dynamic Harlequin operation. Expansion into the overseas market continued with the 1990s seeing the opening of offices in Eastern Europe. Harlequin Hungary was soon followed by Poland in 1991 and the Czech Republic in 1992. Books are now also sold under license in Russia, Latin America, Estonia, Lithuania and Taiwan.

Having shipped more than 3 billion books since 1949, Harlequin continues to write its own remarkable publishing story.

When Gerald Mills and Charles Boon joined forces in 1908 to create Mills & Boon Ltd, the company was not founded as a romance fiction publishing house - although its first book was, prophetically, a romance. Since those early days, Harlequin Mills & Boon Ltd has developed from a general fiction publisher to become the UK's undisputed market leader in romance fiction publishing.

From the very beginning, Mills & Boon published in a form and at a price that was within the reach of a wide readership. In the 1930s the company noted the rapid rise of commercial libraries and the growing appetite for escapism during the Depression years. The favourite genre was romance and the company decided to concentrate on hardback romances, a policy which became increasingly successful. Mills & Boon books were initially sold through weekly two-penny libraries and their distinctive brown binding led them to become known as "the books in brown".

With the decline of UK lending libraries in the late 1950s, the company's most successful move was to realise that there would remain a strong market for romance novels, but that sales would depend on readers having easy access to reasonably priced books. As a result Mills & Boon romance became widely available from newsagents across the country.

Carrying forth with this legacy in December 2007 Harlequin Mills & Boon India Private Ltd was established and commenced distributing new titles, printed in India for the Indian market. The local Indian office will bring Indian consumers fresh new titles every month, at bookstores, newsstands, chemists shops, and grocery stores all for just Rs. 99 each.

Core product in the Harlequin Mills and Boon India brand portfolio are the three series which are published every month. In the coming months we will be launching additional monthly series for the Indian market.