Isle of the Rainbows

by Anne Hampson

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Romance

190 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1970

About the author

Anne Hampson was born on 28 November 1928 in England. At age six she had two ambitions: to teach and to write. Poverty after WWI deprived her of an education and at 14 she was making Marks & Spencer's blouses at one shilling (5p) each.

She retired when she married. Later, when her marriage broke up, she was homeless with £40 in her purse. She went back to the rag trade and lived in a tiny caravan. But she never forgot her two ambitions, and when Manchester University decided to trial older women she applied, and three years later had achieved one ambition, so set her thoughts on number two.

In 1969, her first novel, Eternal Summer, was accepted five days from posting and she soon had a contract for 12 more. From the caravan she went to a small stately home, drove a Mercedes and sailed on the QE2. From the first book, came over 125 more written for Mills & Boon, Harlequin and Silhouette. Alan Boon (the Boon of Mills & Boon) and she came up with the title for 'Harlequin Presents' over lunch at the Ritz. She suggested to Alan that they have a historical series. He told her to write one - it was done in a month, entitled Eleanor and the Marquis under the pseudonym Jane Wilby. She has the distinction of being number one in Harlequin Presents, Masquerade and Silhouette. Many of "Presents" have been reprinted many times (some as many as 16) and are now fetching up to $55, being classed as "rare" books.

She has had 3 awards, one at the World Trade Centre where she received a standing ovation from her American fans, who had come from many states just to meet her.

She was retired, but in 2005 she wrote two romance and crime novels, both of which were published by Severn House.

She passed away on 25 September 2014. She has been written her autobiography, entitled Fate Was My Friend.

Reviews

[Beebs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was SO stoked to finally find this book!



You see, back in the early 90s I found this one at a used bookstore and for some reason it hit the spot for teenaged me.

Lost it at some point and have been looking for it again ever since digital books have become a thing, but especially in the past 2 months while I've been on my vintage romance kick.



They're not lying when they say you can never go back.

The absoLUTE racism at every turn. I have been disillusioned about Anne Hampson now, because this is not the type of casual ignorant racism that's a product of its time; this much and amount and degree of it speaks to a very specific, personal, strongly held belief of the author that white people are literally superior to everyone else.

But first, the plot. Aside from the racism, if you can actually put that aside, it's not a bad book and has a very interesting setting and plot. The setting is the island of Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic like I did), and the author is constantly describing the vivid wildlife and flowers and scenery in a way that makes you feel like you're there- the characters are always getting distracted by gorgeous butterflies, lizards, birds, the sunset, etc. haha.

The plot has a couple of things that are hilariously bizarre, but it begins with the secretary to an older female author who writes books about rocks/geology. OFA (older female author) seems to be in her early 60s and is flighty, absentminded, abrupt, and obsessed with rocks and writing about them. The h has been working for her for a year, traveling all over the world researching rocks. The h's dad at some point met the OFA and fell in love with her, and as soon as he finishes retiring, they plan to get married.

MFC is excited about this, because the OFA has a grown son, and MFC thinks she's going to get the brother she always wanted. The new future stepbrother (MMC, of course) owns a plantation on Dominica, to which MFC and OFA are heading, to be joined by MFC's father in a month or so after he wraps up his retirement, etc.

FMC is planning all kinds of amazing family outings and bonding with her new bro, etc. when OFA pulls her aside and asks her not to tell MMC that OFA and FMC's father are engaged; she hasn't quite told him yet because he's very protective of her. And, by the way, she needs to stop calling OFA by her first name because Max would not approve of such familiarity from an employee.

This is a harbinger of things to come. Max, MMC, is immediately hostile and suspicious of FMC without even knowing her father is planning to marry his mother. Apparently, OFA is flighty and gullible, and wealthy, and has been preyed upon by gold-digging men and dishonest assistant/employees. FMC immediately slips up and refers to OFA by her first name, furthering his disdain.

To summarize most of the rest of the plot, FMC is defiant because MMC is "bossy" and situations and OFA's flightiness, and the 17-y0 OW/plot moppet (Efficient to combine the two) combine to make FMC seem even more defiant and subversive and irresponsible than she is.

The engagement ends up coming out and MMC is even more dead-set against FMC and her father.

The major plot point ends up being this hilariously unrealistic situation in which the MMC has had to rescue FMC, OW/moppet, and 2 OM because they got lost going on an overnight hike to this hot sulphur lake. FMC got sweaty or something, and somehow manages to catch a CHILL. In the Carribean, in the summer, next to a boiling hot lake. Now, catching a "severe chill" is not actually a thing anymore, so it's anyone's guess as to what that is, but apparently it's somewhat like a "killing frost" (IYKYK) or maybe just a cold, and FMC passes all the way out, is carried to her bed by MMC, and she is laid up for a WEEK in bed.

She and MMC are bonding, and she promises not to disobey him any more and they're finally getting along like the NOT brother-sister that they AREN'T, and MMC keeps getting gleams in his eyes.

Then he gives orders for her to be bundled up very warm when she finally gets to sit outside for an airing after her week-long convalescence. She thinks the servant has misunderstood so she goes out in a flimsy clothing and everyone leaves her, the servant takes her shoes to be cleaned (???) and naturally she gets sick again. See, she can't get up from the chair to go inside because the servant took her shoes, and she promised the MMC she wouldn't walk barefoot outside anymore because she did that once and got chiggers.

She gets even MORE sick from this """chill""" and it takes her 3 more weeks to recover enough to get out of bed!!

Anyway the MMC has had it, and refuses to have anything to do with her; her father arrives, some drama occurs, and then abruptly the MMC does an about-face, accepts her father as legit, and asks her to marry her. The end.

Now, for the racism! The book takes place on a plantation on the island nation of Dominica; it is set in the early 70s. The servants on the plantation, who are all black, refer to the owner of the plantation as, and I quote, "Massah."

Note, this is not the deep American South during/before the Civil War, this is the 70s-era Caribbean. People don't talk like that there. I'm not even sure there were actual plantations there in the 70s but I haven't looked it up.

The main, um, servants, in the house, are a man and his much younger wife. The wife is referred to as, when first coming to the house, not being able to cook "white food" or know how to clean. ?!??!??!?? Black male servants are frequently referred to as "boys"; and don't even get me started on when they went to visit the native village and start talking condescendingly about THEM. Just, wow. Words like savages, cannibals, natives, yellow skin, and various racist stereotypes abound.


Now this all bypassed me the first read-through somehow, possibly because I frequently read literature from the early 20th century and before, much of which features racism frequently so I just may have skipped over some of it, or not really thought heavily about it or whatever.

Anyhow, I'm giving it 3 stars because of the description and because there's a nice amount of hurt/comfort and MMC nursing the FMC back to health, lots of bridal-carrying, and everyone got an HEA, abrupt or no.

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree that the ending was abrupt and there is just no way you could have predicted an HEA between h & H. The only thing I can say that was good was that the H didn't shake the h violently, as is so common in Hampson's books and that's just a sign that I have stayed too long at Hampsonfest. Fortunately, I'm almost done reading all of her non-historical books.

[Alaa Sadek · Rating 3 out of 5]

- كانت رواية جيدة إلى حد كبير.
- النهاية، وهي أكثر شيء تتذكره بعد إنتهاء الرواية، فلم تكن النهاية على مستوى الرواية نفسها، فقد أنهت كل الخلافات في كلمة واحدة (عرض للزواج).
- كانت هناك خلافات بينهما "بني" و "ماكس" وبين "بني" و "شيرلي" وبين "جايمس" و "نورا" كيف إنتهت؟ لست أدري.
- مستوى عرض الأماكن الخلابة من الجزيرة لم تكن على المستوى المطلوب، فقد كانت تأتي وسط خلافات، غضب، حزن، توتر، فلم تكن تجعلني أشعر بالإسترخاء حين وصفها.
- إشفاقها على "شيرلي" كان عادلاً و لكن كيف إنتهت علاقتهما؟ كيف تنتهي دون أن ندري؟
- ماكس، لم أشعر قط بأنه شخص يتدخل أو يفرض أوامره، بل كان يقوم بتقديم النصح والذي كان دائماً على حق، ربما لم يكن يقدمه بالإسلوب الجيد، لكنه أجدر شخص بهذه الجزيرة ويحمل مسؤلية كل شخص فيها، ولم يتوانى لحظة في تقديم العون والمساعدة لأي شخص، أما ما كان خطأ وخطأ كبير أنه يستمع دون تعقل، فكان يظلم "بني" أحياناً كثيرة، وفي نفس الوقت تستطيع أن تجد له مبرراً لذلك، فبسبب الحنان الزائد من والدته "نورا" كانت ستكون فريسة لأكثر من شخص، فكان على حق أن لا يثق في أي شخص تقع عليه عينه.
- بني، فتاة طيبة حقاً، ولكنها كانت مخطئة في كثير من الأحيان في عدم إحترامها لنصائح "ماكس" كما قال لها بالفعل، كان يجب عليها إظهار بعض الإحترام لمضيفها.
- ماكس، كان واضحاً منذ اللحظة الأولى أنه يشعر بإنجذاب نحو "بني" ولكنه كان يخشى ذلك، الأمر الغريب أن "بني" وحدها لم تكن لتصدق ذلك أبداً -كنت أشعر أنها غبيه- كل ما كان يغضبه منها عدم سماعها لنصائحه التي يقدمها.
- شيرلي، تلك الفتاه المراهقة التي جلبت مشاكل جما على "بني" كان عطف "بني" عليها على حق ولكن كان يجب أن تخشى من ذلك المكر الدفين.
- كيف تصالحا "بني" و "ماكس"؟! كيف تنتهي القصة بعرض للزواج وفقط؟! كيف تنتهي بطلب من "بني" لـ "ماكس" أن يترك لها مساحة لتتحرك فيها بشخصيتها وحريتها؟! بل كان يجب هي أن تتعقل، فحريتها وشخصيتها أوقعتها في الكثير من المشاكل، وكان على "ماكس" أن يثق فيها بحق.
- كانت رواية جيدة لولا تلك النهاية الغير جيدة.



~آلاء صادق~

[elstaffe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Aside from the racism (which I understood to be linked to when this book was published), I was liking this book well enough until the end, which came rather abruptly. I wouldn't go as far to say nasty or brutish, but it was definitely short, with the feeling of "Oh, welp, there's my word limit, nice to see you all, let's throw in a marriage proposal."

[Myrna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's certainly dated.
But the story itself is well-written. It isn't passionate. Cute

The female protagonist is thrilled to meet her future stepbrother only to be dismayed by his hostile welcome and his mom's plea for secrecy.
His mom ( the girl's future stepmother) is egomaniacal IMHO.

[Gihan Rady · Rating 4 out of 5]

أي رواية ل آن هامبسون كنت بحبها

[Debby · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am glad I’ve read the reviews here, because I was wrestling myself through reading the book. The h is stupid and a blabber mouth and the H is cold and distant.

Other reviewers say the ending is abrupt and I don’t like that, so I won’t take the effort to read further. Happy to DNF.