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The Fields of Heaven
When Imelda opened her antique shop, Charles Wingfield expressed doubts about her ability to handle the venture. She assured him, "I can't be duped by a phony person," and he replied, "Not as a dealer. As a girl, you might be."
Was he right?
Was he right?
Unknown Binding
First published October 1, 1973
18 people want to read
About the author
Anne Weale
227 books49 followersJay Blakeney
aka Anne Weale, Andrea Blake
Jay Blakeney was born on Juny 20, 1929. Her great-grandfather was a well-known writer on moral theology, so perhaps she inherited her writing gene from him. She was "talking stories" to herself long before she could read. When she was still at school, she sold her first short stories to a woman's magazine and she feels she was destined to write. Decided to became a writer, she started writing for newspapers and magazines.
At 21, Jay was a newspaper reporter with a career plan, but the man she was wildly in love with announced that he was off to the other side of the world. He thought they should either marry or say goodbye. She always believed that true love could last a lifetime, and she felt that wonderful men were much harder to find than good jobs, so she put her career on hold. What a wise decision it was! She felt that new young women seem less inclined to risk everything for love than her generation.
Together they traveled the world. If she hadn't spent part of her bridal year living on the edge of a jungle in Malaysia, she might never have become a romance writer. That isolated house, and the perils of the state of emergency that existed in the country at that time, gave her a background and plot ideally suited to a genre she had never read until she came across some romances in the library of a country club they sometimes visited. She can write about love with the even stronger conviction that comes from experience.
When they returned to Europe, Jay resumed her career as a journalist, writing her first romance in her spare time. She sold her first novel as Anne Weale to Mills and Boon in 1955 at the age of 24. At 30, with seven books published, she "retired" to have a baby and become a full-time writer. She raised a delightful son, David, who is as adventurous as his father. Her husband and son have even climbed in the Andes and the Himalayas, giving her lots of ideas for stories. When she retired from reporting, her fiction income -- a combination of amounts earned as a Mills & Boon author and writing for magazines such as Woman's Illustrated, which serialized the work of authors -- exceed 1,000 pounds a year.
She was a founding member of the The Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2002 she published her last novel, in total, she wrote 88 novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Andrea Blake. She loved setting her novels in exotic parts of the world, but specially in The Caribbean and in her beloved Spain. Since 1989, Jay spent most of the winter months in a very small "pueblo" in the backwoods of Spain. During years, she visited some villages, and from each she have borrowed some feature - a fountain, a street, a plaza, a picturesque old house - to create some places like Valdecarrasca, that is wholly imaginary and yet typical of the part of rural Spain she knew best. She loved walking, reading, sketching, sewing (curtains and slipcovers) and doing needlepoint, gardening, entertaining friends, visiting art galleries and museums, writing letters, surfing the Net, traveling in search of exciting locations for future books, eating delicious food and drinking good wine, cataloguing her books.
She wrote a regular website review column for The Bookseller from 1998 to 2004, before starting her own blog Bookworm on the Net. At the time of her death, on October 24, 2007, she was working on her autobiography "88 Heroes... 1 Mr. Right".
aka Anne Weale, Andrea Blake
Jay Blakeney was born on Juny 20, 1929. Her great-grandfather was a well-known writer on moral theology, so perhaps she inherited her writing gene from him. She was "talking stories" to herself long before she could read. When she was still at school, she sold her first short stories to a woman's magazine and she feels she was destined to write. Decided to became a writer, she started writing for newspapers and magazines.
At 21, Jay was a newspaper reporter with a career plan, but the man she was wildly in love with announced that he was off to the other side of the world. He thought they should either marry or say goodbye. She always believed that true love could last a lifetime, and she felt that wonderful men were much harder to find than good jobs, so she put her career on hold. What a wise decision it was! She felt that new young women seem less inclined to risk everything for love than her generation.
Together they traveled the world. If she hadn't spent part of her bridal year living on the edge of a jungle in Malaysia, she might never have become a romance writer. That isolated house, and the perils of the state of emergency that existed in the country at that time, gave her a background and plot ideally suited to a genre she had never read until she came across some romances in the library of a country club they sometimes visited. She can write about love with the even stronger conviction that comes from experience.
When they returned to Europe, Jay resumed her career as a journalist, writing her first romance in her spare time. She sold her first novel as Anne Weale to Mills and Boon in 1955 at the age of 24. At 30, with seven books published, she "retired" to have a baby and become a full-time writer. She raised a delightful son, David, who is as adventurous as his father. Her husband and son have even climbed in the Andes and the Himalayas, giving her lots of ideas for stories. When she retired from reporting, her fiction income -- a combination of amounts earned as a Mills & Boon author and writing for magazines such as Woman's Illustrated, which serialized the work of authors -- exceed 1,000 pounds a year.
She was a founding member of the The Romantic Novelists' Association. In 2002 she published her last novel, in total, she wrote 88 novels. She also wrote under the pseudonym Andrea Blake. She loved setting her novels in exotic parts of the world, but specially in The Caribbean and in her beloved Spain. Since 1989, Jay spent most of the winter months in a very small "pueblo" in the backwoods of Spain. During years, she visited some villages, and from each she have borrowed some feature - a fountain, a street, a plaza, a picturesque old house - to create some places like Valdecarrasca, that is wholly imaginary and yet typical of the part of rural Spain she knew best. She loved walking, reading, sketching, sewing (curtains and slipcovers) and doing needlepoint, gardening, entertaining friends, visiting art galleries and museums, writing letters, surfing the Net, traveling in search of exciting locations for future books, eating delicious food and drinking good wine, cataloguing her books.
She wrote a regular website review column for The Bookseller from 1998 to 2004, before starting her own blog Bookworm on the Net. At the time of her death, on October 24, 2007, she was working on her autobiography "88 Heroes... 1 Mr. Right".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 30, 2018
BOOOOOORING.
Also, crabby side note: Although I am a big fan of the German language because it produced the absolutely necessary word "Kummerspeck" (translation: "Grief bacon" -- i.e., the food you eat when you are depressed), I hardly think that the H should have chosen German as the language in which to make his initial foreshadowing love declaration.
Also, crabby side note: Although I am a big fan of the German language because it produced the absolutely necessary word "Kummerspeck" (translation: "Grief bacon" -- i.e., the food you eat when you are depressed), I hardly think that the H should have chosen German as the language in which to make his initial foreshadowing love declaration.
February 13, 2016
Interesting tale, and I learned a lot about antiques and collecting in the process. This gives the story an added dimension.
June 23, 2022
3½ Stars ~ I truly enjoy the romances written by Anne Weale. Her heroines may be young, but they are not pushovers, which is a good thing as her heroes are strong willed and used to getting their own way.
In this romance, we have Imelda who at the age of 20 has inherited a house in the English countryside filled with bits and pieces of Victorian treasures. It's on the train from London to Norwich, that Imelda meets Mrs. Wingfield who also shares her love for small collectibles, and they form an immediate friendship. At the train station, Mrs. Wingfield is met by her grandson, Charles, and insists that they give her a ride. When Imelda tells them that it's Miss Partridge's house she has inherited, she's told that the house is not fit for her to stay in and Mrs. Wingfield insists she be their guest as it's too late for her to find other accommodations. Imelda senses that although he is hospitable, Charles isn't pleased about this arrangement. And in the morning, Imelda's sense is confirmed when she over hears Charles discussing her with his grandmother, and the comments are not very flattering.
With the help of the local police, Imelda is given access to the house and introduced to a 50ish widow most happy to have a lodger. And so Imelda sets herself on the task of discovering what treasures if any her great aunt may have hidden in the shambles of her home. It's a huge task, but one Imelda finds surprisingly productive. There are indeed many small treasures, though not of any huge value, they form a good basis for a trinket shop. When she shares her ideas, Mrs Wingfield is delighted though Charles expresses his doubts that she'd succeed, and passes on the offer to purchase the house and contents from a local woman, Beatrix, who runs a more upscale antiques shop in Norwich. Imelda suspects that Beatrix thinks she's unaware of the treasures buried in house which only sets her determination to follow through on her shop all the more.
This romance was a pleasure to read. My Dad and I were great garage sale shoppers, looking for small treasures, so this story had an added charm. Imelda is just who she claims to be, a sensible girl with the love of a country life style. Her great aunt's bequest is just the boost to she's dreamed of. Charles is the only thorn in her happiness. Though they had a rocky start, she quickly finds herself admiring him and falling in love. Charles is a dark horse, but it's obvious he's taken an interest in Imelda. The HEA is lovely.
In this romance, we have Imelda who at the age of 20 has inherited a house in the English countryside filled with bits and pieces of Victorian treasures. It's on the train from London to Norwich, that Imelda meets Mrs. Wingfield who also shares her love for small collectibles, and they form an immediate friendship. At the train station, Mrs. Wingfield is met by her grandson, Charles, and insists that they give her a ride. When Imelda tells them that it's Miss Partridge's house she has inherited, she's told that the house is not fit for her to stay in and Mrs. Wingfield insists she be their guest as it's too late for her to find other accommodations. Imelda senses that although he is hospitable, Charles isn't pleased about this arrangement. And in the morning, Imelda's sense is confirmed when she over hears Charles discussing her with his grandmother, and the comments are not very flattering.
With the help of the local police, Imelda is given access to the house and introduced to a 50ish widow most happy to have a lodger. And so Imelda sets herself on the task of discovering what treasures if any her great aunt may have hidden in the shambles of her home. It's a huge task, but one Imelda finds surprisingly productive. There are indeed many small treasures, though not of any huge value, they form a good basis for a trinket shop. When she shares her ideas, Mrs Wingfield is delighted though Charles expresses his doubts that she'd succeed, and passes on the offer to purchase the house and contents from a local woman, Beatrix, who runs a more upscale antiques shop in Norwich. Imelda suspects that Beatrix thinks she's unaware of the treasures buried in house which only sets her determination to follow through on her shop all the more.
This romance was a pleasure to read. My Dad and I were great garage sale shoppers, looking for small treasures, so this story had an added charm. Imelda is just who she claims to be, a sensible girl with the love of a country life style. Her great aunt's bequest is just the boost to she's dreamed of. Charles is the only thorn in her happiness. Though they had a rocky start, she quickly finds herself admiring him and falling in love. Charles is a dark horse, but it's obvious he's taken an interest in Imelda. The HEA is lovely.
April 1, 2024
When Imelda opened her antique shop, Charles Wingfield expressed doubts about her ability to handle the venture. She assured him, "I can't be duped by a phony person," and he replied, "Not as a dealer. As a girl, you might be."
Was he right?
Was he right?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews