Carole Mortimer

Carole Mortimer (born around 1960) is an English romance novelist who has written for Mills & Boon since 1978 and has published around 200 books.

She grew up in a rural hamlet in the east of England and was the youngest of three children. Her first manuscript was rejected, but her second, The Passionate Winter, was accepted by Mills & Boon and published in 1978, when she was among the firm's youngest authors. Output was rapid from the start: Open Library records Tempted by Desire, Only Lover, The Tempestuous Flame and Savage Interlude all in 1979. Her publisher credits her with more than 170 books for Harlequin Mills & Boon, and her Wikipedia biography records her 200th book, Shadow Alpha, in March 2015. She is married to Peter, and her publisher's profile names six sons.

Her work has been recognised in the United States with the Romantic Times Pioneer of Romance Award (2014) and the Romance Writers of America's Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award (2015).

For collectors. The Passionate Winter (Mills & Boon, 1978) is her first book. Like most Mills & Boon titles it was reissued many times, including Harlequin editions and a Magna large print edition, so the original 1978 Mills & Boon printing is the one that marks the start of her career. Her 1979 titles show how quickly she established herself.