The One Who Kisses

by Lucy Walker

There is always one who kisses and one who holds the cheek... Kate Osborne and Hal got engaged in Sydney; but soon Kate had to admit that things were not right between them. She found she could not bear the humiliation of being 'the one who kisses!'Had he changed, or was he really very selfish and cruel? And how did he measure up to someone like Rick Benallen? No less handsome, Rick was somehow a man on whom one could depend...

Genres: Romance

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was well written, but so many of the characters were unpleasant that it made the h's attachment to the H seem motivated by the fact that the H was a nice person.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an unusual Lucy Walker. I was a little surprised considering the silly title. It turns out the silly title actually is from a quote that refers to imbalance in a relationship. Who knew? The book is even has some musings on politics, taxes, post-war, and environmental issues in mid-20th century Australia. There are more ambivalent and not-nice characters than expected. The heroine is also not as naive as the typical Walker heroine. Perhaps this is one of her first novels and she was feeling her way to her later style and had more to say.

Good Australian land descriptions which is a Walker strength. And of course, a romance. Though I thought the dramatic and admittedly fun ending left a lot of loose ends to be wrapped up.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

I put off reading this because it's a love triangle and heroine is having second thoughts about her fiance once she visits his station and meets his family. That's all in the blurb so no spoilers.

What makes this trope palatable is how deeply interesting this time and place is to me. It's set in the early 1950's in Australia. The author describes the land, the economics, the risks and rewards of the wool trade and general farming.

It's a rapidly changing world. Characters are traumatized by their roles in World War II. (Heroine had deprivations in England as a child. Hero was in a Polish concentration camp for two years. OM was a pilot, etc. . . ) New social mores are being tested and old ones are dying.

The OM's family is trying to keep up with all of this and keep their status. They are not nice people. They're understandable. But not nice. Heroine observes all of this and by the time she's spent two hours with all of them, she starts having second thoughts.

Then third and fourth thoughts - until she's made up her mind. Meanwhile, she's fallen for hero, who has the station next door.

The romance really isn't the thing here. It's the glimpse into a world long past that is everything.

Warning - if you care about animals, this will be a rough read. Horses suffer and it's hard to take in.

[KSHG · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/10 DNF There are 3 parts and I made it to Part 3 and lost interest. There were too many unpleasant characters in this story and it d...r...a...g...g...e...d
Some of the episodes that were meant to showcase the nastiness of the OM family were too subtle and I couldn't understand why the heroine was offended. In general I don't like stories where the heroine spends so much time in love with OM.

[MEF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book delivered everything in the promotional blurb so if that appeals, you won’t be disappointed. The family division and characters are drawn more sharply than Lucy Walker normally provides and I enjoyed it.

[Judith Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The One Who Kisses

I liked the book,easy to read,love the outback stories.Lovely story,great characters, had an ending that I didn’t expect but turned out well.

[Flo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not one of Lucy Walker's usual Australian outback romances. Written in 1954, Walker's heroine is 24 and she is already engaged to Hal, who must be over 30, when the story begins. Hal is bringing his fiance, Kate, back to his wool station to meet his family. If this romance had been written today, it would be taken for granted that Hal and Kate are sleeping together, but not in 1954. She realizes very soon that he is not the same man she fell in love with in Sydney; he is indifferent, brutal and has no time for her. She is thrown onto the company of members of his family: his mother whom she dislikes, his 2 sisters for whom she feels sorry and other station workers and family. She does, however fall in love with the northwest and Hal's best neighbor, Rick, whom she hardly ever kisses. Still it was a good romance.

[Melissa Rudolfs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read

I first read this book almost 50 years ago as a young wife facing life in the Far East near end of the Vietnam War. I loved it then and have enjoyed regrading it. The main character., Katie, faces tough realities about love and life and we grow with her. Her character development is deep and insightful. The story is memorable. Enjoy!