Nor The Moon by Night

by Joy Packer

Lucas Behr lives a life of adventure, traveling to exotic locations for his photojournalism work and to satisfy his own restlessness. Unanchored by familial connections or friendships, it has allowed him tremendous freedom, but it has also left him adrift and searching for something more. When a chance meeting with a young journalist, Maggie, develops into something more, it seems he has found what he was seekingsomeone with whom to share in the journey. Still, he is restless. Unable to shake the memories of the bridges he has burned, he sets about rebuilding them in his own imperfect way. Some hurts prove deep and difficult to mend, though, while he must be cautious to avoid causing further hurt along the way. Reconciliation and forgiveness can be hard to give but, sometimes, even harder to ask for. Lucas must first learn to get out of his own way in order to give more fully of himself to others.

Genres: Africa, Romance, Historical Fiction, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

Joy Petersen was born and educated in Cape Town, graduating as a journalist from the University of Cape Town. She worked initially as a free-lance journalist, in 1931 becoming a reporter for London's Daily Express. After this she spent time on radio in Hong Kong as well as a stint writing for British publications in the Balkans. World War II saw her as a broadcaster to South Africa for the BBC, then later working in the Ministry of Information in Egypt, as at Allied Headquarters in Italy. Her travelling was tied up with her marriage to a British admiral, Sir Herbert Packer. When her husband was knighted in the 1950 Honours list Mrs. Joy Packer automatically became known as "Lady Packer", a courtesy title.

Her first works of note were three volumes of memoirs published from 1945 to 1953 dealing with her travels throughout the world during the period before, during and just after World War II with her husband. Places visited included Britain, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and China. In the early 1950s she went on a substantial tour of Africa, which is included in her later published final three volumes of memoirs.

In the 1950s, she also began publishing novels, starting with Valley of the Vines in 1955, which sold more than 600 000 copies in English, and was translated into at least nine European languages. Although her novels principal themes were romantic, several sources state them as also important for their sociopolitical commentary of South Africa at the time. Her second novel, Nor the Moon by Night was made into a British film of the same name. In America, it was released as Elephant Gun.

Reviews

[Dorcas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this on Bree's to-read list and was intrigued. They had it on open library so I downloaded it "just for a taste", got engrossed and read it all in two days. (despite reading two other books~ welcome to my world! :)

In a nutshell, Alice is a nurse and WW2 is over. After caring for her terminally ill mother for four years she is free and looking for a change. Andrew, her game warden penpal invites her to South Africa to pursue their relationship and she immediately sets off. Not everything goes to plan and Andrew is unable to pick Alice up when she arrives. Instead, Andrew 's brother, Rusty takes her under his wing.. .

Sounds like a pretty straightforward romance, right? Wrong! It's much more....African.

There are poachers, game keepers on the "wrong side " supplying the locals with guns, rogue elephants, 'pet ' lions, mambas, and a mystery surrounding a native game keeper who has been found with his tongue cut out and blinded...

Also there is a mystery surrounding Alice herself and the 'convenient' demise of her ill mother...

There's lots to love here. I thought it was a really well rounded book with the focus evenly distributed between adventure, romance and mystery. The writing is solid and engrossing and the characters felt real. This is the first Joy Packer book I've read but I really want to check out her others after reading this one!

CONTENT:

SEX: None
PROFANITY: Mild. D, B, H
VIOLENCE: Animal attacks and poacher pursuit. Nothing too graphic
PARANORMAL ELEMENTS: village chiefs and witch doctors. "paper lion" spells.

MY RATING: PG

[Tweety · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful story! I hope this author has many more just as good.

This book gave me such a lot more that I was expecting, I thought it was just going to be a "coming of age" story set in Africa, but it was so much more.

Alice was a nurse during WWII and after that she took care her mother, helping her to a peaceful death. Then she boarded the first plane to Africa, to wed the pen pal she's been writing to over the years.

When she gets there her whole being is cloaked in blissful joy, even Rusty, her intended's brother, cannot overshadow it with his surly disposition.

Acording to Rusty, he and Allen are nothing alike, yet very similar. They both live for the wildlife, but go about it in different ways and that is why they clash, or at lease that's what Alice thinks at first.

There were twists and turns I never saw coming, and who would have thought that it would be the people, instead of the animals that you would fear most. Because, to get in between a Poacher and his prey, is like getting in between a lioness and her cubs, it just isn't done.

I wasn't expecting this book to be so good, but now that I'm done I wish I could read it all over again. If that doesn't tell you how good this is, nothing will.

Rating: PG there is murder, a brutal mauling (told after the fact), some talk of witch doctors and a few swears, (Ds Bs and Hs) nothing else.

Oh, on an end note, I loved that the ending wasn't perfect, but it was happy.

[Luminita Szen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joy Packer compacted in 330 pages a very compelling story, full of adventure, mistery and romance. I am very happy I read it, I did not get bored, the plot and characters are interesting and keep you on pins and needles until the end. I recomend it !

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought an old hard cover copy of this book (sans the schmaltzy artwork on the cover pictured on GoodReads) that I ran across in a junque shop while on vacation. I have a fondness for old books in which women head out across the Empire to marry the men who run tea plantations, pineapple plantations, Sri Lankan mines, etc. It's usually very interesting to see how they wrote about the colonial experience without the benefit of hindsight or the inclination to be politically correct. This story was fictional, but written by a colonial dame of the day, so felt true to the times.

[Hana]

South Africa! For my Around-the-World tour. Recommended by Tweety and Dorcas.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, a book with a good plot, no explicit sex scenes, no homosexuality, and no incessant swearing!!! And...it was still a good book! I think today’s authors should read it! There was a lot going on in this book in it’s 315 pages. I would give it a notch up from a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” story, in that the story didn’t solely focus on the romance element. My only criticism is how quickly the couple fall in love. I, like another reader, found a hardback version at a book sale. The hardback version’s title differs from the cover on Goodreads version. Mine is “The Moon By Night.” Enjoyed every minute!

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a beautifully written adventure, with some genteel romance blended in. The tragedy of this otherwise lovely novel is that, though the author makes every attempt to treat the people of Africa worth respect, she is unable to overcome the temptation of the "noble native." The exoticism and racism colors her narrative to the point that it becomes wince-worthy.

[Banana Peely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant writing but not a big fan of the ending

[Anne Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently enjoying, a bit at a time.

[CindySR · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this is the book I remember reading years ago (and I think it is) then I thought I would write a little about it since there is no description.

It's about a nurse who goes to an African wildlife preserve to meet and marry her pen-pal who runs the place, only to fall in love with his brother. The pen-pal is a serious Stewart Granger type while his brother is the hunky Burt Lancaster type. It reads like a 1940's film script, very romantic! Keep in mind the times in which it was written and you will enjoy it.

Now that I see Joy Packer wrote several books I will be looking for more.

[Fiona Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not often re-read a novel. However I first read this one in my late teens or early 20's, and kept it all these years because I had loved it so much. Of course by now (20 odd years later) I had forgotten the story, and this re-read was almost as good as the first. Lovely descriptions of my beloved bushveld country, characters to fall in love with, and gentle twists and turns in a romance tale that allowed a tear or two to escape. Beautiful light reading.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Xenophobic. Racist. A plot that is great but so weak for the romantic portions

Descriptions of South Africa that are stunning. It's the best sales pitch for that country, one that's never been of interest to me, I've ever read.

[Sabrinathebookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

great book

[Kaitlyn Cotton · Rating 2 out of 5]

A suspenseful story, though much of it did not age well 😬

[Paula K Morley]

Read at least 100 times.