Spring Green

by Elizabeth Cadell, Nikita Garet (Illustrator)

Into the small English village of Polden comes Mr. Donner and his beautiful daughter Coolie from Arizona, USA. Mr. Donner wants to learn something of the past of a former resident of Polden who, emigrating to America and dying in Mr. Donner’s home town, left a large sum of money to the hospital there. Surprisingly little information is given to the Donners, although they soon win the hearts of the residents of Polden. Claire has to decide whether she truly loves Stephen, her childhood sweetheart, or if her love for him is just a friendship and nothing more.

Genres: Fiction

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Violet Elizabeth Vandyke was born on 10 November 1903 in Calcutta, British Raj, daughter of British parents, Elizabeth Lynch and Frederick Reginald Vandyke, a colonial officer. During the Great War she studied music in London, but refused a musical career and returned to India where she married in 1928 Henry Dunlop Raymond Mallock Cadell, and they had a son and daughter. After she was widowed ten years later, she returned to England.

Elizabeth wrote her first book 'My Dear Aunt Flora' during the Second World War in 1946, there after producing another 51 light-hearted, humourous and romantic books which won her a faithful readership in England and America. In addition to England and India, many of her books are set in Spain, France, and Portugal. She finally settled in Portugal, where her married daughter still lived.

She died on 9 October 1989, aged eighty-five.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this little story by Elizabeth Cadell much better than the last one I read. The heroine was a solid, strong character, who did a good job of caring for herself. There was a mystery, there was some romance, A bit of heartache. Well, more than a bit. And a lot of interesting characters.

[Morggie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Least of Ms Cadell’s book with the least likable characters. The plot seemed to drag on forever and the silly underlying mystery about Hansard stealing the money from gullible women was not worth solving. In the end Coolie and Stephen got married and went off to live in AZ while Claire ended up alone in Scotland.

[Sep · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sad Cadell made more so but the narrator's "Had I but known" air. It is also a moral tale: friendship does not a romance make. Wish there'd been a sequel.

[Bookworman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I enjoyed reading this book but was disappointed with the sad but somewhat hopeful ending.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This differed from Cadell's other books in that it was narrated by the one who doesn't get the happy ending, which was interesting.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever read a Cadell book that made me so depressed.

[Ymt01 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Country girl has her childhood sweetheart stolen from her by an American girl on the trail of a long-forgotten village secret.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Second of 5 books in one....almost too easy to read, too easy to forget.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are new beginnings in the spring, but there are also endings. Claire describes the ending of many relationships/situations and some new beginnings. Life never turns out as you thought it would.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad story

Very interesting plot, good characters, but also rather downbeat. To say more risks ruining it for others. Still very much a Cabell book.