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A Distant Sound of Thunder

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Piers' love had been all Rebecca wanted.Rebecca fell wildly in love with Piers St. Clair—only to discover he was married. All too swiftly, that idyll on a romantic Pacific island had ended.Now, three years later, on the other side of the world, Rebecca had made a new life. And almost found a new love.When Piers suddenly came back into her life, Rebecca knew she'd never stopped loving him. But Piers was full of bitterness—and there was still no future for their love.

189 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

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93 people want to read

About the author

Anne Mather

799 books357 followers
Anne Mather is the pseudonym used by Mildred Grieveson, a popular British author of over 160 romance novels. She also signed novels as Caroline Fleming and Cardine Fleming.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.

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5 stars
29 (19%)
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39 (26%)
3 stars
55 (37%)
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12 (8%)
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for Raffaella.
1,945 reviews292 followers
April 12, 2022
I gave two stars for the title and the cover, because really, where can you find such a title and such a cover today?
There are only pregnant women on a bed dressed in slinky clothes while sexy half dressed men caress their swollen bellies and the titles are only "pregnant" "billionaire" "mistress" so if you have the paperback edition you must hide the cover unless you want to receive some nasty remarks from people around you.
And this is a pity since sometimes the story is good and it should deserve better than a lecherous cover and a demeaning title.
Whatever.
The heroine is a young nurse who's nursing a sick woman in Fidji.
One day the brother in law of her patient turns up and he starts courting her.
The heroine thinks he's a widower since her patient told her so and they almost have sex.
Then the nasty woman tells her that he's still married to her sister.
The heroine asks the hero if it's true, and when he tells her it is and that he would never divorce her because his family are catholic she leaves him and her patient, and goes back to England to work at an Hospital. She refuses to listens to his explanations. Thank god for small mercies.
Three years later the heroine still hasn't moved on.
She's going out with a medicine student even if he's much younger and she's not interested.
He asks her to his parents house telling her one of her friends is working for his sick aunt and she accepts.
Guess who's the man's father?
But the hero of course.
He's there with his sister in law and the new nurse, and everybody's nasty with the heroine.
The aunt is still jealous and cruel, the hero is angry (why? since he was the cheater?), the nurse is angry because she thinks her ex boyfriend cheated on her with the heroine.
The heroine tries to leave but there's a fog and you know that in England fog is a serious thing, so she can't leave and has to stay for the night.
Then there's an accident and while she's helping the hero is injured too, so she helps him too.
Everybody now are against the heroine but one of the hero's partner, who explains that the hero's marriage was an unhappy one and his wife was not a real wife to him and she had many lovers. Poor, poor hero.
So the heroine thinks she wronged him and tries to apologizes.
Really?
Really?
At this point I was fuming. Why should she ever apologize?
The hero could have asked for a divorce but no, he's a catholic and he can't so the heroine had to settle for second best/ mistress, and if his wife hadn't died that would have been her situation for how long? Forever? Or until the hero got tired of her?
How idiot is this?
Anyway it is debatable that he was such a good catholic, if he had been he would certainly have not cheated on his wife repeatedly as he admitted.
So he only thought of what he wanted to do, as the selfish bastard he was, without thinking that the heroine should have been deprived of a family, a husband and children, and since this book was written several decades ago I think it would have been painful for her to accept such a situation.
But the hero didn't care, he only thought for himself, and thought he was being generous since anyway he would have offered her anything but marriage, so what's all this fuss.
The bastard sob.
Please, someone beat this man very hard, immediately.
So he's angry now and tells her that no, he won't marry her now he's free.
And the heroine, instead of telling him that he's the last man she should marry since she hates cheating bastards, no, she's hurt and thinks she treated him badly.
And she catches pneumonia and almost dies.
When she recovers, she finds out her evil ex patient died and left her the house in Fidji so she decides to leave England and goes there to live.
Instead of finding a caring and honest man, she still pines for the hero, stupid idiot that she is, and receives a letter from her ex friend the nurse, who, jealous because the hero was interested in the heroine and not in her, tells her the hero gave her the house, not her ex patient, because he wanted her out of his hair, so now the heroine plans to leave the house and go back to England.
The hero though, arrives there and tells her he loves her and, even if he had multiple women during his marriage, he only loved one woman, her. And now he wants to marry her.
FY, hero.
Of course the heroine is very happy and I'm happy too that this book was free and I didn't spend my money on it.
The man was a complete selfish bastard of a narcissist, he only thought what was more comfortable for him, he lied and never told the heroine he was married and tried to seduce her even if she was innocent and he knew that.
Then he got angry because she refused that awful situation.
No way he was not able to divorce his wife, his son was grown up, his wife was a harlot and he wasn't certainly a good catholic since he cheated on her too.
I don't think for one moment he loved the heroine and the fact that she had to apologize as if he was the wronged one made my pressure rise dangerously.
Stupid stupid woman.
Other people were cruel and mean too, the evil aunt/ patient, the nurse ex friend, even the hero's son was unpleasant. And the heroine was a doormat and she should have stayed very far from that dysfunctional family.
She was a sad figure of woman, without self respect and without character, since she didn't even have any friends and never dated.
As I said, the title and the cover are the only good things here.







Profile Image for Anne E ♡ emo + OTT Hs.
224 reviews204 followers
November 25, 2021
Why I still read Anne Mather's books...

The GOOD: ***SPOILERS***
Good romance-focused writing/pacing/S chemistry/emotional chemistry. Tension-filled kisses but no sex scenes. Good emotionality with mostly non-verbalized tension between H&h, with both knowing the other's mutual attraction without words. I could feel the tension! Good angst from 20+yo nurse h's heartache at being misjudged by late-30s+ wealthy French businessman H/finding out he was still married & his wife wasn't dead as she was led to believe by H's jealous & malicious sister-in-law(SIL)/realizing that her male doctor friend OM (who she went out with only 1x but became friends-only with after) is actually H's son when OM brought her to meet his family/& seeing H again with his looks of cold dislike aimed towards her/watching her attractive private-nurse friend flirt with H.

Good writing to put H&h's forbidden romance in place. So, by 40%, h leaves H after she told him she can't be with him as they both wanted because she just found out that he's still married & she never would've put herself in that state if H's disabled SIL(h's rich private patient) didn't deliberately lie to H about h's wife being dead. By 50%, it's 3 years later and H&h accidentally reunites when h's new good friend OM (H's son who's 6 years younger than h) brings her to his family's estate 1 weekend. It was encouraged by the malicious plotting of H's SIL & h's nurse-friend to mess with them now that H's cheating wife has been dead for 18 months and H's son OM has been pursuing h (even though h had been telling OM she just wants to be friends). Likable h who was strong inside to say “no” to her huge attraction to H(even before she found out his wife was still alive) and to stay away from him, knowing the danger of their mutual attraction. Also liked how firm & honest she was with others but not unkind about it.

MEH or the BAD:
H was an anguished attractive alpha-male who would've cheated on his wife with h. Doesn't matter that his wife had been cheating on him and that they had a marriage in name-only by that point (H said he "hated" his wife). H would've gone on kissing h & eventually smexxing her, if h didn't put a stop to their intimacy & asked him to clarify his marital state. Also didn't like how quick H was to judge h and didn't try to talk to her about uncharacteristic things said about h by his known-liar SIL.

Sexual History:
h still a virgin but had dated other men before & after H. She was attracted to her nurse-friend's old BF & that's why she took the job with H's disabled SIL in Fiji to stay away from her friend's BF. She realized in her 2 years in Fiji that she really wasn't that attracted to her friend's BF. H married his wife but hated her because she cheated on him with various men & was too materialistic. Not sure if he cheated with other women too, while still married. Only that he was willing to have an extra-marital with h but felt anguished about it.
548 reviews16 followers
February 5, 2016
I don't know why I persist in reading Anne Mather books. Knowing fully well, her crazy idea of love and intimacy don't sit well with me.

Here the girl resists a much married hero , a French man for a while and then succumbs to some innocent fondling from the rather desperate hero. Then a mischief maker relative informs her that he is married.

And in Anne Mather stories the married heroes always have the most bizarre matrimonial troubles. But they do stay married !

Well, a few years later the heroes' son is after the heroine now !! Just how old is the hero really !?!?
But true love prevails, whatever that means in such a situation.

I don't blame anybody other than myself for picking this one. Right from the start I knew this one is not for me. but I still went on with it. No point lamenting now !
Profile Image for Kay.
1,926 reviews125 followers
February 24, 2012
4 Stars! ~ Rebecca Lindsay left England when she became uncomfortably attracted to her best friend’s boyfriend. Taking a position in Fiji as a private nurse to a woman stricken an invalid by a very weak heart, seemed just the distance Rebecca needed. Adele is not an easy woman to care for; she’s bitter and often jealous of Rebecca’s good health. So when Piers St. Clair visits Adele, Adele purposely lets Rebecca believe Piers is a widower, when in fact his wife, Adele’s sister, is very much alive. Piers is enchanted, but Rebecca thinks his attentions are of a wealthy man just having some fun, so she fights her attraction. Piers realizes that Rebecca is an innocent and he stops himself from seducing her. Only Adele is having some fun at their expense, and she tells Rebecca that Piers’ wife is not dead and that she will have great fun informing her of their affair. Rebecca is humiliated and when she confronts Piers he cannot discount that he is married, and she flees before he can explain about his marriage. Returning to England, Rebecca takes a job at a busy hospital. As a few years pass, she fights off the attentions of young men but when it comes to Paul Victor, she finds he won’t take no for an answer. So she agrees to a friendship only relationship with the younger man, one Paul seems content with. Paul informs her that Rebecca’s former best friend is his aunt’s personal nurse and that she very much would like to reunite. Much to Rebecca’s shock, Paul’s aunt turns out to be Adele and Paul’s father is Piers!

Okay, remember this was written in 1973. Piers had been 19 when he became a father and was forced to marry a woman much older. Theirs was a bitter loveless marriage made in a catholic church that forbade divorce, even though the wife flaunted her affairs. As an early Presents this book is written solely from Rebecca’s POV. Constantly thrown into very difficult situations, and alone in the world, Rebecca bravely faces them. This is a very early book by Ms. Mather but it wonderfully showcases her remarkable talent. She is truly a Queen of Romance! This was a delightful treat!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Missy.
918 reviews20 followers
November 26, 2015
A nice read.

Rebecca meets her former love Piers years later after breaking up with him when she found out he was married. This broke her heart and she has never allowed another man that close to her again. She has devoted herself to her nursing until a young nice man enters her life. He is so sweet and charming she has a hard time saying 'No' to him and they become friends.

This friendship leads her right back into Piers life and the evilness of Adele.

Re-entering his life she realizes all those feelings are still there but now he hates her.

Piers has always loved her but resents how she never listened to his side of the story.....but when you are married, you are married no matter how you slice it.....there is a little something called divorce. He does redeem himself in how passionate he is about her.

A nice read full of hidden passion.
Profile Image for April Brookshire.
Author 11 books789 followers
November 20, 2014
I really like the villain in this book, Adele. Even sickly, she was able to fuck with the hero and heroine's heads. The tension between them was great. The plot wasn't too spectacular, but it kept me reading.
Profile Image for Shivani Singh.
Author 4 books24 followers
Read
April 12, 2022
I can’t abide by Anne Mather most of the time. This one is definitely not one of her better ones. Never feel like rereading it. The tedious strange beginning is the reason. There a horrible laboured feeling about the beginning. I can’t put it in words.
The whole book. The whole story is very tedious.
All I can remember is the strange fact that he buys her a talcum powder in the beginning. How poor was she??
That talcum powder was such an amazing gift worth mentioning by author.
So trite and sordid. Basically.

The scene where they meet again because she’s now dating his son. So many authors have done this.

So that’s it.


🤷🏽‍♀️😬

Read if you like Anne Mather’s style of romancing.
Profile Image for Tia.
Author 11 books142 followers
August 13, 2012
The heroine was the heroes sister in laws nurse. When the hero and heroine met, the attraction was undeniable. However the sister in law was a vicious and malicious woman and caused nothing but trouble, so the heroine left.

Three years later the heroine is dating a nice man, little does she know that he is the heroes son. When there paths cross again, the sister in law causes more drama, as well as some others. Once again the hero and heroine are on the outs and there looks to be no conclusion to their past romance.

Then the heroine gets sick and goes away to a warm climate but the hero showed back up and won't take no for an answer.

It was a pretty great read and I enjoyed the angst and confusion.
Profile Image for Hemavathy DM Suppiah-Devi.
544 reviews33 followers
April 22, 2017
One major point I did not like was Piers (the hero) being angry with Rebecca (the heroine) for so many years because she wouldn't accept that his marriage was unhappy and have an affair with him. In effect she didn't want to become his mistress and she was wrong? 🙄🙄🙄
Profile Image for Rana.
141 reviews1 follower
September 12, 2014
قرأتها مترجمة بإسم "عاطفة من ورق"
Profile Image for Roub.
1,112 reviews63 followers
November 11, 2013
it was an ok read. the book was actually divided into 2 parts where they 1st met n fell in love, then got separated. the 2nd part involved pier's son going out wid rebecca but der was nthng serious bet them. now my opinion abt the book. i do not condone adultery but in this book, i found rebecca at fault becoz she did not give piers a chance 2 explain himself. she believed adele completely n dat was an unforgivable flaw. also, in the 2nd part, der were scarce interactions bet piers n rebecca. only 2 infact n i find dat unacceptable. when i said ok read, i meant the book was a 2 star but a week ago i read Forbidden wid a similar kind of story n compared 2 it, it's only 1 star
Profile Image for Lin.
89 reviews
March 28, 2015
I really like the story line of this one, Fiji, London of course and a French main male lead. Adele's character was not at all determinable. Quite a surprise that one. Paul turning out to be who he was, wasn't as I first expected but then I knew who he was before the author disclosed his true identity. A villa in Fiji with it's own private beach, quite a paradise. Rich men seem to be the only character for all romance books though I would really like to read a few books where the main male character wasn't a Millionaire. I like true stories, true to life characters with true, realistic occupations.
18 reviews
July 4, 2016
One can hardly call this a romance novel. There was next to nothing ineraction between hero and heroine. The book had great potential, but ended up beeing boring. I usually love Anne Mather books, but this wasn't worth the money.
Profile Image for Amy Leigh.
546 reviews2 followers
August 29, 2022
I try to make allowances for MCs in vintage books, but I couldn't like the hero in this one.

The heroine is slightly better, but I wasn't really rooting for either. I've read better Anne Mather books.
Profile Image for Debra.
3,461 reviews13 followers
May 8, 2024
She met him while working for his sister in law. As her nurse companion he seemed to be around. When they ended up. Their affair ended when she found out he was married. She left. Then three years later they met again and things were different. She finds out the lies said years ago were said. He is after revenge. Or is he? Can they make it happen now when all lies before?
Profile Image for Brian Sirith.
248 reviews16 followers
May 12, 2024
It was ok. Not in much of a mood for romance or broody alpha males these days but it was not bad. A tad predictable, being a more PG Temptation story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Hadeer Rish.
46 reviews17 followers
January 4, 2025
رواية حلوة رومانسية خفيفة ظريفة
Profile Image for أجمل زهرة.
685 reviews28 followers
December 24, 2017
*~*~ عاطفة من ورق ~*~*~

- آن ميثر -
(روايات عبير)

الملخص:

من يستطيع الجزم بأنه لن يقع في الحب مرة ثانية وثالثه.
بعضنا يردد في يأس مؤكداً موت قلبه بعد فشل حبه الأول....
وبعضنا الاخر يعتقد اعتقاداً راسخاً بأن عواطفه انكسرت الى الأبد ولا
أمل من عودة قلبه الى الخفقان...
لقد انتهيت...هكذا يصرخ العاشق ممزقا بآلام الخيبه, مرتمياً بحزن في
احضان التفاصيل الصغيره.
ولكن...من منا يعرف متى تهب نسمة فتزيل الضباب المتراكم فوق سهول القلب؟
ربيكا جرحها الحب الأول من رأسها حتى أخمص قدميها.
شلتها الصدمه, وشردتها رياح الغربه لتعمل ممرضة في الفيللا التي تخص أديل سانتا كلير
على شاطئ المحيط الهادئ, حيث التقت بيير واحبته, ولكن ابنه بول احبها
وطلبها للزواج. أما أديل فكانت تحيك الأفكار الانتقامية المدمره...
لمن تستسلم ربيكا... للحب ام للحقد ام للزواج؟


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