A gracious woman of infinite talent, Mary Balogh writes extraordinary love stories that remind us why we adore romance. In an exclusive interview, Balogh defines the generosity of heroism, praises ordinary dreamers and accepts an offer too good to be true.

MB: The love story is always central to your novels, something oddly lacking in many romances offered today. And while your love scenes are authentic and wonderfully passionate, you're also unafraid to offer us heroes who aren't sensual dynamos, who are often awkward or a bit inept at first.

Why do you choose that portrayal, and how does it move a story forward for you?

Balogh: I don't think of myself as a romance writer. I think of myself as a writer of love stories.

Love is such a vast and powerful thing. It cannot be contained by the simple romance of a growing attraction and sexual appeal between a hero and heroine. There has to be much more than that.

It is not enough for two people to fall in love -- though they do fall in love in my books, of course. They also have to love each other, and that is not such a simple thing to accomplish. There are bound to be all sorts of barriers and challenges to be dealt with before they can fully love.

I suppose I make the writing of a romance difficult for myself, but it is the only way. I have to write a love story or not bother at all!

And of course, once one writes a love story, then it does not have to be about an Adonis of a man and a Venus of a woman. Ordinary people are capable of great love -- and readers are very willing to believe in them if given the chance.

Most of us are just ordinary people and we need to be able to dream of our own great love story.

MB: What inspired your love story, "Simply Love?"

Balogh: Actually it was two of my earlier books.

The heroine of "Simply Love" is a wounded character. She first appeared in "Slightly Scandalous" as a single mother who had been the victim of rape and had lost her job as governess and been rejected by her family as a result.

She has done very well for herself -- she has put the past behind her and become a teacher at Miss Martin's School for Girls in Bath. She has kept her son with her. But of course, she has not dealt with the past; she has merely suppressed it.

When I came to thinking of who her hero would be, I remembered another wounded character, Sydnam Butler, who first appeared in "A Summer to Remember." He had been a victim of torture in Spain while spying for the British during the Napoleonic wars and had suffered severe burns as well as the loss of his right arm and eye.

He has recovered and made a good life for himself as steward on a ducal estate in Wales. Nevertheless, his wounds run deep. He is an artist, but he has lost the means of expressing his talent.

I decided to put these two characters together to see if they could find healing through each other.

MB: What do you like most about "Simply Love"?

Balogh: I like the fact that it goes beyond any superficial definition of romance. It is a love story. But love is no simple, fluffy, starry-eyed thing. It must go deep if it is to be true and meaningful.

Anne and Sydnam care for each other and help each other and challenge each other and ultimately love each other. But even that is not enough. They have to love themselves if the love they give is to have any real worth -- and learning to love oneself is often the hardest form of love to learn.

I think I tackled all this in the book, and this is what I like most about my creation.

MB: Anne and Sydnam are quite heroic characters. In real life, who is the most heroic person you know?

Balogh: Goodness, that is a hard one to answer. I don't think I could name an individual because that would mean excluding thousands of others.

Heroism is living life to the fullest when all odds are against one's succeeding, and loving and giving even when there seems to be precious little to love and nothing to give except love itself.

I am not sure that doesn't come across sounding sappy. But I really do admire people who conquer the odds against them and accomplish something meaningful during their span on earth. So many of us fritter away our lives on trivialities.

MB: Music, especially vocal music, plays a role in many of your novels. What role does music play in your life?

Balogh: I am Welsh. I believe there is a law to the effect that one cannot be Welsh and not musical!

I grew up with music, both at home and in school. Oh, and in church too. After I moved to Canada as an adult I was a church cantor for several years. I also conducted school choirs. I still sing in a community choir.

MB: And so, music is intrinsic to many of your novels because ...

Balogh: The obvious answer is that music is important to me. But after thinking about the question, I realized that there are a couple of other reasons.

One is fairly obvious. Music was important in Regency England. There was no radio, no television -- none of the forms of entertainment and sources of music that we take so much for granted. People had to create their own entertainment and make their own music. And so my books are full of it.

The other reason only just struck me really -- it has always been unconscious. To me music involves passion -- whether is it through the voice or the playing of a piano or violin.

Regency society was such a mannered thing with so few outlets for passion. There are, of course, the sexual encounters between my heroes and heroines. But what of other passions, those depths of the character and heart and soul that bring them to valuing and respecting and loving each other?

Many of my heroes and heroines are artists of one type or another -- people with depth of vision and imagination and passion.

MB: Novels with characters from the Regency British peerage, especially your Bedwyn family novels, are very popular at Romance: B(u)y the Book and Romance: By the Blog.

What is it about dukes and ladies and roguish lords that enthralls even American readers?

Balogh: We are bombarded from all sides with "reality." Before the age of radio and television and computers, there was far less "news." I often wonder if our human nervous systems were made to cope with such an overload.

We all need some form of escape -- and of course there are many. Books are one form, especially "popular" literature. And more especially, perhaps, historical literature that takes the reader into the lives of people so very different, so seemingly more glamorous than most of us.

What better than English lords and ladies in the early nineteenth century? If the book is well written, of course, it offers more than just escape. It offers a credible view of human nature and relationships too.

MB: We keep hearing that no one reads historicals anymore. Yet I know lots of readers who adore them.

What do you think is the current state of the historical romance?

Balogh: Again, I find that hard to answer. I am a writer, not a marketer. If no one reads historical romances any more, why are people buying my books? Why are those books appearing on the New York Times and Publishers Weekly lists?

I think that any work that is well written and says something meaningful about human nature and human relationships is probably going to find an audience -- no matter what the setting or historical era or genre.

There are, of course, very many historicals that are really no more than contemporaries in fancy dress. They have probably given a bad name to the rest.

But as a writer one cannot worry about things like that or get indignant about them. I trust that readers will continue to find and enjoy and appreciate my books.

MB: Who's your romance hero -- dark, brooding bad boy, or white knight in shining armor?

Balogh: All of the above and everything in between? Though probably not the brooding bad boy in reality -- there is too much chance that he would be incurably self-absorbed. Or the knight in shining armor either -- far too annoying to women who like to do things for themselves.

I like men who are unselfconscious about their masculinity; I don't find macho men attractive. I like men who ask questions and listen to the answers. I like men with genuine smiles -- several of my heroes have eyes that crinkle at the corners -- very attractive!

I like men who are comfortable with children and women of all ages and elderly people. Oh, and why not -- I like men who cook and iron and wash dishes and vacuum the carpet and wash the floor. And -- well, you shouldn't have got me started.

MB: Finally, Mary, answer the question you wish an interviewer would ask.

Balogh: Question: Will you please accept $1 million for your trouble in answering these questions for us?

Answer: Well, if you insist!