A Place Called Paradise

Glenorchy #1

by Essie Summers

Annabel Lee had been brought up in an orphanage, but had always longed to be able to trace her father, and at last she decided to follow the few slender clues she had to her real identity. They led her to the most beautiful place in the world - where Annabel not only found what she was seeking, but met Gideon Darroch, the most wonderful man in the world, too! How would he feel if he knew the reason she had come?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Fiction, Contemporary

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Essie Summers was a New Zealand author who wrote so vividly of the people and landscape of her native country that she was offered The Order Of the British Empire for her contributions to New Zealand tourism.

Ethel Snelson Summers was born on on July 24, 1912 to a newly-emigrated couple, Ethel Snelson and Edwin Summers, situated in Bordesley Street in Christchurch, Essie was always proud of both her British heritage and her New Zealand citizenship. Both her parents were exceptional storytellers, and this, combined with her early introduction to the Anne of Green Gables stories, engendered in her a life-long fascination with the craft of writing and the colorful legacy of pioneers everywhere.

Leaving school at 14 when her father's butcher shop experienced financial difficulties, she worked for a number of years in draper's shops and later turned her experiences to good use in writing the romantic novels for which she became famous.

She met her husband-to-be William Flett when she was only 13 years old, but it was 13 years before she consented to marry him. A minister's wife and the mother of two, William and Elizabeth, she still found many opportunities to pen short stories, poetry and newspaper columns before embarking on her first novel, which sold to the firm of Mills & Boon in 1956.

Summers died in Taradale, Hawkes Bay on the August 27, 1998.

http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/...

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've decided that while Essie Summers writes romances, I think her greatest emotional payoffs come from family/ community relationships. This story is no different.

Our heroine, Annabel Lee, (her name is important), was found next to the body of her mother during the London blitz in WWII. The clues to her identity were a snap of her with two lines of verse and a tartan. She grew up in an orphanage and at the opening of the story is being pursued by OM, named Mervyn (could he be anything other than an OM with that name?). When she hears the melody of a song, the lyrics, come unbidden to her mind. She has a hunch that her mother used to sing that song and the words match a description of New Zealand. Off to the NZ consulate(?) /tourist bureau to find out more. There she meets the hero who is willing to give her a job working at his mother's guest house if she's so eager to visit that part of NZ.

OM is angry that heroine is leaving, so his sister sends an anonymous letter to hero telling him to beware. So hero acts suspicious and hostile toward her when she arrives. There are long passages describing the journey to the guest house, then we are introduced to hero's stepmother and half-sister and the OW, the widow of their nearest neighbor (the Bell family). OW drops poison in heroine's ear about the hero's motives to hide their love and his pretending to like heroine. (Stepmama hates OW)

There's a ball to welcome heroine. Hero and heroine kiss, and all looks rosy for their relationship, until heroine overhears hero talk about how jealous he is of the OW's first two husbands. Heroine gives him the cold shoulder and there is very little contact until the end of the book. Meanwhile, the heroine tries to figure out who her daddy could have been. She thinks the neighbors with the last name Leigh might be her relatives. She also makes friends with the next-door neighbor - the OW's father-in-law. Mr Bell (remember that name). He is pining for his other son to come home. Other son has never gotten over his first marriage and he's lived abroad for years. Hero suddenly decides to go to Australia where the OW's second husband (last name Bell) died.

Then all sorts of people show up in their little corner of the South Island- the lost son (last name Bell) because the climate in Hong Kong doesn't agree with him. Mervyn because the heroine's inherited some shares and he wants her money.

Heroine overhears OM and OW teaming up to take her down, and as she is defending herself, hero walks in with the news that OW was never married to the Bell brother. He had ended the engagement and then had been killed in a car accident. OW just acted like they were married for fun and profit. It's a lovely, highly satisfactory public takedown of the OW and both OM and OW are run out of town on a rail (so to speak).

Meanwhile, the lost son, realizes that Annabel is his lost daughter , Anna Bell. (Told you the names would be important). He has the same copy of the snapshot. Lovely family reunion. Lost son had stayed away because he was in love with hero's stepmother and he didn't know what happened to his wife in Britain and he was afraid she was still alive somewhere.

Heroine explain to hero what she overheard him saying to OW. It was all an act to get OW to come clean. HEA.

I was actually happier for the heroine to have found her father and grandfather than I was for her to have landed a man. There was nothing wrong with the hero or anything - it was just that the emotional wallop came from the heroine's backstory and how it all fit together in the present.

[Leona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful story. Essie does it again. The ending is wonderful and powerful. I had to grab a tissue box, which is very rare for me in HP land. I usually am rolling my eyes.

Highly recommended for Essie Summer fans!

[Fiona Marsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely story about a young woman believed orphaned in WWII who follows the clues to A Place Called Paradise in order to find her family.

Annabel Lee has come to terms with being an orphan and after growing up in an orphanage, she works there giving back to the other children the love and care she received.

When a chance heard scrap of song triggers a memory she finds out that the place mentioned in the song she recalls could really exist. A place surrounded by mountains and on a lake with a strong propensity for biblical names. She meets Gideon Darroch at New Zealand house while researching and he offers her a job in that district.

Annabel and Gideon get off to a rocky start through the ill-natured offices of Annabel's ex-boyfriends sister who writes an anonymous letter to Gideon. When the lovely Venetia misleads her about Gideon's intentions the setup for misunderstanding is complete.

And all through it we have Annabel quietly looking around to find her own family. When it all comes together it is the best of all possible scenarios with even the snakey Venetia banished from Eden.

An enjoyable romp with the usual extended cast of character and the fabulous New Zealand scenery as backdrop.

[Lemony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my GOODNESS, was this book a wild ride!
I struggled with the pacing at first, but after I got past chapter 3, I was hooked! Annabelles journey, and all the characters were so interesting to read about. I never even guessed the plot twist with Venetia! And finding out who Annabelles dad was, was such a shock.

I probably wouldn't normally pick up a book like this, but I am so so happy I read it. I genuinely can't recommend this book enough

[Anuradha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good old world story. Of a British girl whose orphaned in the world war. And she is trying to trace her roots on her father's side who was a New Zealander.

So she leaves her orphanage and her staid , stifling life behind in London. And emigrates to New Zealand on a wild hunch. Some clues that she has about her parents. How she traces her dad and his family, and finds a wholesome loving family out there , is the rest the story.

The hero is the guy who meets her at London and gets her get to New Zealand to take up a job. There are the regular OW/OM things, add spice to the story without spoiling the over all charm.

Good support characters, good descriptions of NZ. Old world charm, nothing scintillating, just sweet simple stuff.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very samey to some other Essie Summers plots. Unnecessary secret keeping, I haven't really found many ES books that don't rely on that. Sweet conclusion though.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was in High School my older sister read Harlequin Romances. My mother didn't object to my reading these, I'm still bitter about her confiscating the booked based on the TV show Bewitched when I was 10. And I came across this story of an orphaned English girl who unexpectedly found her father in New Zealand. An adopted child myself, this story was very moving, but it started an interest in New Zealand, and the books of Essie Summers, that has lasted over 50 years. When I read Essie's biography I learned she had been influenced by LM Montgomery and her Anne of Green Gables stories, treasured here in the Canadian Maritime. Essie's beautiful descriptions show that influence.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story. Essie Summers will have you and Annabel guessing practically to the last page about the identity of Annabel's father. And when it happens, it is a beautiful and emotional scene. Recommended.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yet another story by Essie Summers of a girl coming over from London to find her father in secret. This heroine (also about 25/26) and the hero (also about 30) bond then fall out somewhat over a misunderstanding (she overhears him romancing the OW, so shame on him even though he was pretending). Of course everyone loves the heroine except the OW. Despite poetry, these heroes never seem particularly romantic to me and there isn't any chemistry.
Happy Endings all around except for the OW and OM.
2 1/2 stars

[Crazyuga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the story premise and the climax is dramatic but poetic in someway

[Susan, aka Pooh Bear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harlequin Romance #1156

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

After her mother's death in a bombing raid, Annabel Lee grew up in an orphanage with only a couple of clues to her parentage, one being her name written on a photograph. Hearing a piece of music sparks another memory, of words she believed her mother had written, and these words lead her to Paradise, half a world away in New Zealand. There, as she hunts for more clues to her family, she also tries to resist her growing attraction to Gideon Darroch. Troublemakers have carefully contrived to set them at odds with one another — will they be able to discover the true situation, and also discover Annabel's true heritage?

This is one of my favorite of Essie Summers' books. The characters seem true-to-life, and the situations in which they find themselves are quite realistic — though coincidence plays a strong role! Highly recommended.

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like with all the republished Essie Summers books in this edition, I really appreciate the extra material before and after the novel--I wish more publishers did this with reprints. It is clearly a labor of love. I think it also shows one area where eBooks have an advantage--the color photographs of the locations that have been included are a nice touch.

As for the story itself, there is still a stupid misunderstanding that would have been resolved quickly if the H and h would just talk to one other, but I was more able to overlook that than usual. As another reviewer said, the most satisfying part of this story is the heroine finding her father and discovering where she belongs. And as always, the descriptions of the setting make me want to go and see them. (Someday!)

[Karen-Leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annabel Lee had been brought up in an orphanage, but had always longed to be able to trace her father, and at last she decided to follow the few slender clues she had to her real identity. They led her to the most beautiful place in the world - where Annabel not only found what she was seeking, but met Gideon Darroch, the most wonderful man in the world, too! How would he feel if he knew the reason she had come?

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another lovely old-fashioned romance set in one of the most beautiful places on earth, Queenstown, New Zealand. Annabel was left an orphan when her mother was killed during a bomb raid in London during WWII. Based on her memories of a long-forgotten song, she sets off to search for her father in New Zealand.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Randomly chosen from my pile(s) of books and it is book 86 of 2011 - aim 133 books in 2011.

Book bought in Christchurch when on holiday.

[Carrie Wiberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great beginning to a story.
A cute story. Enjoyed reading it.