Clove Orange

by Joyce Dingwell

Libby couldn't decide whether Pierce Hardway was genuinely interested in B.W.C. (Because We Care), or whether he saw in its orphaned or deprived boys a source of cheap labour for his herb farm, Clove Orange. And even when she went to Clove Orange herself, she couldn't make up her mind about him.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Enid Joyce Owen Dingwell, née Starr, was born on 1908 in Ryde, New South Wales, Australia. She wrote, as Joyce Dingwell and Kate Starr, 80 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1931 to 1986. She was the first Australian writer living in Australia to be published by Mills & Boon. Her novel The House in the Timberwood (1959), was made into a motion picture, The Winds of Jarrah (1983). Her work was particularly notable for its use of the Australian land, culture, and people. She passed away on 2 August 1997 in Kincumber, New South Wales.

Reviews

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather sweet tale of a heroine saddened by the death of her parents and younger brother who works for a charity that helps children find foster/adoption homes. The hero runs a herb farm and has lots of the charity's boys helping out and also fostering younger ones that attend school. Initially she is not keen, due to misunderstanding and her sympathy for a boy he had tried to help, but he's instantly smitten and she soon starts thinking of him all the time. The story is really about the farm, the children that come there and the neighbouring big house with a potential OW/OM. It's rather an odd romance, but sweet and I'm hugely fond of Joyce Dingwell books as they are so unusual and interesting in their settings. Plus the hero is so capable and in tune with his feelings - a sweetheart.

[C. Michael]

Somewhat predictable outcome -- it is a Harlequin Romance, after all -- and a plot with the routine genre elements of a lead female character who claims dislike/disinterest in the man she's actually in love with, a crisis that brings the couple together, and a profession of love on the last page, or nearly so. Given all that, this is still an enjoyable short novel, with Dingwell's normal flair for effectively bringing the Australian landscape into the story on display.