Out of the Woods

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death and death by suicide.

The core elements of a romance novel traditionally involve a central relationship and the promise of a happy future, with the resolution of most major conflicts by the end of the story. While many romance novels involve the beginning of a relationship, some specifically focus on established couples addressing new tensions. This is popularly known as the “marriage in trouble” trope of the romance genre. 

Like Out of the Woods, these novels tend to rely on forced proximity or unexpected circumstances to bring an estranged couple together again. For example, in Sherry Thomas’s classic historical romance, Not Quite a Husband, the protagonists are unexpectedly drawn together years after their marriage was annulled as they process grief for a dead relative. In Sarah Maclean’s The Day of the Duchess, the protagonist returns to England to seek a divorce from her husband after a long separation due to their infant son’s death; in the end, he grants her a divorce, only for her to propose remarriage soon after. Like Out of the Woods, in both of these classic examples, the marriage in trouble trope is closely linked to the unresolved grief of the protagonists, and the narrative focuses on how the grieving process and the healing that ensues become a point of connection between the main characters.

Grief is a major facet of Out of the Woods, as Sarah and Caleb grapple with her grief over her mother’s death and the fact that their relationship was built during her mother’s illness. Romance critics and commentators have noted a significant increase in romance novels involving grief, death, and ghosts, and consider their prevalence a possible cultural response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The novels that deal with grief and the ways it affects an established couple also often explore the ramifications of working through their grief with regard to their professional lives. One critically acclaimed recent example that features a married couple is Kennedy Ryan’s Before I Let Go, in which the protagonists revisit their decision to divorce as they finally confront their shared grief over the loss of their infant son. As they work through their grief, the business they run together successfully expands as their relationship is restored. In Out of the Woods, Sarah and Caleb both experience epiphanies about the meaning and purpose of their work; as they process their grief, they are both able to move forward with new aspirations, reconnecting with passions that energize their careers.

Specifically, Sarah’s journey through grief involves reconnecting with her passion for writing, which becomes both an outlet and a new direction for her life. Like Sarah, in Yulin Kuang’s How To End A Love Story, Helen is grieving her sister’s death by suicide and turns to writing to process her loss and determine what a healthier relationship to her grief might look like. Though romance novels often involve the joy of intimacy and repaired relationships, recent trends in the genre showcase authors exploring the challenges of life beyond romantic relationships, delving into the full range of human emotion even as they remain true to the genre’s core elements of personal fulfillment and a happily ever after.