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Down in the Forest
A Beagle Romance-#16
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
About the author
Lucy Walker
103 books26 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
Lucy Walker (1907–1987) was the most famous of a few pseudonyms used by Dorothy Lucie Sanders (née McClemans). She was born in Boulder, Western Australia, on 4 May 1907. Her father was of Irish stock, a minister of the Church of England. Her mother was from New Zealand. Dorothy began writing at an early age, despite her father’s scepticism about her ability.
A qualified teacher from Perth College (1928), she taught in state schools in Western Australia until 1936. She continued teaching later in London while her husband, a fellow school teacher whom she married in 1936, completed his doctorate in education.
They returned to Perth, Australia in 1938 but Dorothy Lucie Sanders only began her writing in 1945, producing articles, short stories, and later novels. In 1948 her first novel, Fairies on the Doorstep, was published.
As Lucy Walker, she wrote about 39 romance books:
Fairies On the Doorstep (1948)
Who Leaves the Crowd (1952)
The One Who Kisses (1954)
Sweet and Faraway (1955)
Come Home Dear (1956)
Heaven is Here (1957)
Master of Ransome (1958)
Kingdom of the heart (1959)
The Stranger from the North (1959)
Love in a Cloud (1960)
The Loving Heart (1960)
The Moonshiner (1961)
Wife to Order (1961)
The Distant Hills (1962)
Down in the Forest (1962)
The Call of the Pines (1963)
Follow Your Star (1963)
The Man from Outback (1964)
Reaching for the Stars (1964)
A Man Called Masters (1965)
The Other Girl (1965)
The Ranger in the Hills (1966)
The River Is Down (1967)
Home at Sundown (1968)
The Gone-Away Man (1969)
Shining River (1969)
Six for Heaven (1969)
Joyday for Jodi (1971)
The Bell Branch (1971)
The Mountain That Went to the Sea (1971)
Ribbons In Her Hair (1972)
Pepper Tree Bay (1972)
Pool of Dreams (1973)
Girl Alone (1973)
Monday in Summer (1973)
Runaway Girl (1975)
Gamma's Girl (1977)
So Much Love (1977)
These romance novels were very successful in Australia and overseas. The stories were meticulously researched; the writer travelled extensively in the Western Australian outback, recording details of scenery, personalities and social customs in her notebooks and diaries.
Other pseudonyms used by this author: Shelley Dean, Dorothy Lucie Sanders, and Lucy Walker.
Dorothy Lucie Sanders was widowed in 1986 and died the following year. Her daughter and two sons survived her.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 11, 2025
Really enjoyed this one. Heroine is a physical education teacher who travels to the South West Forest Region of Australia to teach at the district school. But oops. School has burned down in a wildfire. No job.
Luckily, hero, largest landowner in the district, has a job opening as his assistant - or an "off-sider" as they call it. He wanted a man but he begrudgedly accepts the heroine. Heroine does everything - correspondence, cooking, supervising his half-brother, helping his stepmother, and most importantly - the thing that earns her a proposal - saving the station from wildfire. (Seriously, this girl climbs a tree and saws off the burning limb of a tree next to it. She's very impressive)
Unfortunately, the OW turns up like a bad penny on their honeymoon and the H/h don't have sex or much intimacy at all. And once home, the OM ropes the heroine into a community project and hero is jealous.
It takes the housekeeper to talk some sense into the hero before he masterfully plucks his wife away from a community dance and tells her how he feels. It's very sweet. Also - he saw the heroine riding a few years before and he never forgot her. He's been in love with her all along.
Luckily, hero, largest landowner in the district, has a job opening as his assistant - or an "off-sider" as they call it. He wanted a man but he begrudgedly accepts the heroine. Heroine does everything - correspondence, cooking, supervising his half-brother, helping his stepmother, and most importantly - the thing that earns her a proposal - saving the station from wildfire. (Seriously, this girl climbs a tree and saws off the burning limb of a tree next to it. She's very impressive)
Unfortunately, the OW turns up like a bad penny on their honeymoon and the H/h don't have sex or much intimacy at all. And once home, the OM ropes the heroine into a community project and hero is jealous.
It takes the housekeeper to talk some sense into the hero before he masterfully plucks his wife away from a community dance and tells her how he feels. It's very sweet. Also - he saw the heroine riding a few years before and he never forgot her. He's been in love with her all along.
March 17, 2023
This story was far from engrossing. I had a hard time keeping my attention on the miserable plot. I was not impressed by the H but he was real. Jill, the h was sweet but this couple needed a boatload of insight instead of the tanker load of tea they consumed in the story.
Oh my goodness, what a cover! Three glowering people with frowns and frightening glowers. You can’t tell who is who. They probably couldn’t smile because their teeth were all brown due to the tea consumption.
Oh my goodness, what a cover! Three glowering people with frowns and frightening glowers. You can’t tell who is who. They probably couldn’t smile because their teeth were all brown due to the tea consumption.
August 28, 2022
Reread in August 2022. Every point I made in my previos review stands in this review as well.
This is a pretty good clean romance. Jill becomes an "off-sider" (Australian for girl-friday) to Kim Baxter, the local bigshot and owner of Bal-Annie station. He is a bit cold and stern with her but not with local femme fatale Vanessa Althorpe. As Jill stays on Bal-Annie, she learns to love the station, the local karri forest, the people on the station and the work she is doing there. Last but not least she feels she is falling for Kim Baxter. One of the most annoying things about this book is the way Vanessa is portrayed. She goes beyond what is acceptable in her pitch for Kim. But the book wasn't at all bad and Jill had some character. A good romance.
This is a pretty good clean romance. Jill becomes an "off-sider" (Australian for girl-friday) to Kim Baxter, the local bigshot and owner of Bal-Annie station. He is a bit cold and stern with her but not with local femme fatale Vanessa Althorpe. As Jill stays on Bal-Annie, she learns to love the station, the local karri forest, the people on the station and the work she is doing there. Last but not least she feels she is falling for Kim Baxter. One of the most annoying things about this book is the way Vanessa is portrayed. She goes beyond what is acceptable in her pitch for Kim. But the book wasn't at all bad and Jill had some character. A good romance.
November 26, 2014
Best of the three Walkers I have read, a sort of sickly sweet story but not altogether unpleasant.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews