AUSTRALIAJordan Hale grew up in sugarcane country, in far north Queensland. Life was idyllic until his mother died. His father is a broken man, amid gossip suggesting she committed suicide. Late one night Max Courtland calls at the farm. Jordan overhears him taunting his father, who dies of a heart attack. After his funeral, Jordan goes to live in the city with his uncle, who takes him into the business world. He becomes very wealthy and successful, but he had one dream. To resurrect Eden.Eden has become rundown in his absence, and Jordan discovers a young woman squatting on the farm with a faithful old kanaka who stayed there to protect his mother’s precious belongings. Eve Kingsley is proud and singleminded and determined to stay. When Jordan begins hiring labourers to work on the farm, she talks him into hiring her as a cook, with disastrous results. Eve has the ambition to become a journalist and writes freelance articles for the local paper, savaging the treatment of kanakas. The articles upset many of the wealthy plantation owners, including Max Courtland. He owns a sugar cane mill and consequently, the plantation owners are at his mercy if they want to sell their cane. Slowly he’s sending them all broke and buying up their farms. As a rich and handsome man, Jordan is an attraction for the local women, including Max’s wife and daughters, three very different women. One in particular boldly sets out to seduce him. Eve is appalled and jealous. She is getting closer to Jordan, and he’s become very protective of her. He doesn’t want to fall in love, but his heart has other plans. However, he has no idea that Eve isn’t the woman he thinks she is, and finding out the truth is going to come as a shock.When the truth finally comes out, it’s revealed by Max Courtland, who has become unhinged by all his failed plans. Will Jordan be able to save Eve and Eden?TEMPTATION ON EDEN has many riveting and twisting turns, and a surprising conclusion.
Elizabeth Haran was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (known as Southern Rhodesia. Afterwards, her family moved to England and wandered from there to Australia. Today she lives with her husband in a seaside suburb of Adelaide in South Australia. She has two grown sons. Her passion for writing she discovered early 30s.Previously she worked as a model, owned a nursery and worked with young children in a primary school.
I enjoyed this book enormously. The story kept you wanting to turn the pages and the characters are intriguing. It shows a real sensitivity to the far North Queensland sugar cane communities. I highly recommend the book.