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South Island Stowaway
Julia hadn't meant to upset anything
It was sheer accident that brought Julia to Adam Dare's sheep farm on Hew Zealand's South Island. She'd stowed away in the wrong car!
To make her humiliation worse, she was responsible for breaking up the engagement between Adam and his fiancee, Miriam.
So Julia felt obliged to help bridge the rift between them. But the longer she stayed, she started wondering if that was really what she wanted to do!
It was sheer accident that brought Julia to Adam Dare's sheep farm on Hew Zealand's South Island. She'd stowed away in the wrong car!
To make her humiliation worse, she was responsible for breaking up the engagement between Adam and his fiancee, Miriam.
So Julia felt obliged to help bridge the rift between them. But the longer she stayed, she started wondering if that was really what she wanted to do!
191 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1971
About the author
Essie Summers
106 books54 followersEssie Summers was a New Zealand author who wrote so vividly of the people and landscape of her native country that she was offered The Order Of the British Empire for her contributions to New Zealand tourism.
Ethel Snelson Summers was born on on July 24, 1912 to a newly-emigrated couple, Ethel Snelson and Edwin Summers, situated in Bordesley Street in Christchurch, Essie was always proud of both her British heritage and her New Zealand citizenship. Both her parents were exceptional storytellers, and this, combined with her early introduction to the Anne of Green Gables stories, engendered in her a life-long fascination with the craft of writing and the colorful legacy of pioneers everywhere.
Leaving school at 14 when her father's butcher shop experienced financial difficulties, she worked for a number of years in draper's shops and later turned her experiences to good use in writing the romantic novels for which she became famous.
She met her husband-to-be William Flett when she was only 13 years old, but it was 13 years before she consented to marry him. A minister's wife and the mother of two, William and Elizabeth, she still found many opportunities to pen short stories, poetry and newspaper columns before embarking on her first novel, which sold to the firm of Mills & Boon in 1956.
Summers died in Taradale, Hawkes Bay on the August 27, 1998.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/...
Ethel Snelson Summers was born on on July 24, 1912 to a newly-emigrated couple, Ethel Snelson and Edwin Summers, situated in Bordesley Street in Christchurch, Essie was always proud of both her British heritage and her New Zealand citizenship. Both her parents were exceptional storytellers, and this, combined with her early introduction to the Anne of Green Gables stories, engendered in her a life-long fascination with the craft of writing and the colorful legacy of pioneers everywhere.
Leaving school at 14 when her father's butcher shop experienced financial difficulties, she worked for a number of years in draper's shops and later turned her experiences to good use in writing the romantic novels for which she became famous.
She met her husband-to-be William Flett when she was only 13 years old, but it was 13 years before she consented to marry him. A minister's wife and the mother of two, William and Elizabeth, she still found many opportunities to pen short stories, poetry and newspaper columns before embarking on her first novel, which sold to the firm of Mills & Boon in 1956.
Summers died in Taradale, Hawkes Bay on the August 27, 1998.
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 23, 2022
The April 2022 #TBRChallenge is “Location Location Location.” I didn’t think I’d have a chance to participate this month, but I managed to slide in at the last minute with a book from the top of my stack of vintage Harlequins.
This is exactly what it says on the tin: Julia Merrill believes the best way to help her brother get over the loss of his late fiancée is to move in with him and serve as his housekeeper. He has a farm at Castlepoint on the north island of New Zealand, with only other single men around to help. Noel, the brother, turns Julia down firmly, telling her that she’s always been the family caretaker (having nursed their parents through various ailments), and this is her time to go off and be an independent young woman, as is vogue in 1972 when this novel was originally published. Their parents are now in Canada, and Julia has a bustling life in Wellington.
Julia decides that she knows her brother’s mind better than he does, and decides to stowaway in his car, not revealing herself until they arrive at his remote farmhouse, where he’ll be more or less forced to let her stay because of proximity. He’s attending a big farming conference in Wellington, so she steals back to her apartment, packs an overnight bag, and stuffs herself in the backseat of his car, hiding under a blanket. She’s bound and determined to serve as his housekeeper, dammit, and she’s not going to let a little thing like his feelings get in the way!
Julia hides out for hours waiting for the meeting to break up. She can hear her brother talking outside the car, and is grateful when he finally gets in and they start to move. Then they stop suddenly, and noises tell her that they’re on a ferry. This isn’t the way to his farm! What’s going on??
It slowly dawns on her that she’s stowed away in a stranger’s car, one that’s identical to her brother’s, right down to the blanket slung over the backseat. She’s terrified of the scandal that is sure to be released when this unknown man discovers her in the backseat of his car. She realizes that they’re traveling to the south island of New Zealand, far away from everything she’s ever known. It’s an agonizing overnight trip, with no way for her to sneak out of her hiding place and high tail it back to Wellington.
Of course, Julia is discovered at the worst possible moment, right when the man and his fiancée are having a terrific row. The fiancée, Miriam, accuses the man, Adam Dare, of knowingly smuggling a girl home on the basis that they’re having an illicit affair. She completely blows her top, accepting no excuses, and flounces off to Picton, the nearest city.
Julia is mortified; Adam is furious. A landslide has trapped them on Adam’s farm for at least a week, so they have no choice but to put up together until the road clears. Adam lives in the family homestead with his grandfather, Nathaniel, his nephew, Luke, and his nieces, the twins Susanna and Esther. Everyone else is quite bemused by the situation, and decide in their own good-natured way to make the best of things. It’s lambing time, and an extra set of hands will come in handy, especially since Granny Lydia is in hospital with a broken leg.
Julia absolutely falls in love with the tiny, self-contained property on the bay; she considers it a little garden of Eden, just breathtakingly gorgeous. She can’t understand how anyone would want to displace a single blade of grass, much less pull down the old homestead and rebuild, as Miriam had demanded. The Dare family start to tell Julia the history of their family, starting with Captain Ephraim and his lady love, Camilla, who were apparently the first white people to land on that particular piece of property in the 1840s.
Julia proves herself to be an excellent farmhand and a good housekeeper. The Dares are absolutely enchanted by the sweet girl who magically fits into Camilla’s old clothes and seems to love the land just as much as she did. Julia, meanwhile, is bound and determined to patch up Adam’s relationship with Miriam, even though the two of them have no desire to see each other again.
This is a very pleasant read, especially if you like pioneer or small-town stories. It was also rather odd, in that other than the mention of cars and TV, this could easily pass as historical fiction, of the American Western variety, only its set in New Zealand with the requisite history stuck in. There’s a lot of pretty cringy White Savior stuff going on with all the ancestor worship, though the author does at least acknowledge that the native Maori had every right not to be happy with the white people trying to settle their land.
There’s also a lot of Christianity springing up: all of the Dares have Biblical names (and one of the reasons Julia believes Adam and Miriam are meant to be is that Miriam is a name that appears in the Good Book). There’s quite a bit of praying going on, lots of Biblical references in general, and of course smoothing the rough edges of white settlement by saying it was divinely ordained to happen. Sigh.
The end is a bit much – a big rescue scene where Adam plucks Julia from the rising tide in her underwear, after she’d belted herself to Captain Ephraim’s long-lost cutlass, just to bring the romances full circle. Adam confesses his love to Julia in the middle of the raging storm, with little Luke whining about being cold and hungry nearby. The Dare family is absolutely delighted, of course; they all hated Miriam (how dare she be modern in 1972!) but no one wanted to speak up because of Adam’s initial adoration of her. Julia feels herself less than in comparison with the glamorous Miriam, but is secretly glad that she’s so much better at keeping house for her man than the woman who teaches domestic science in the big city.
This is probably the best of the original vintage Harlequin romances that I’ve read thus far, but romance writing has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years. I’m in no hurry to seek out more of this author’s work.
Find more vintage romance reviews at The Vintage Romance Reader
This is exactly what it says on the tin: Julia Merrill believes the best way to help her brother get over the loss of his late fiancée is to move in with him and serve as his housekeeper. He has a farm at Castlepoint on the north island of New Zealand, with only other single men around to help. Noel, the brother, turns Julia down firmly, telling her that she’s always been the family caretaker (having nursed their parents through various ailments), and this is her time to go off and be an independent young woman, as is vogue in 1972 when this novel was originally published. Their parents are now in Canada, and Julia has a bustling life in Wellington.
Julia decides that she knows her brother’s mind better than he does, and decides to stowaway in his car, not revealing herself until they arrive at his remote farmhouse, where he’ll be more or less forced to let her stay because of proximity. He’s attending a big farming conference in Wellington, so she steals back to her apartment, packs an overnight bag, and stuffs herself in the backseat of his car, hiding under a blanket. She’s bound and determined to serve as his housekeeper, dammit, and she’s not going to let a little thing like his feelings get in the way!
Julia hides out for hours waiting for the meeting to break up. She can hear her brother talking outside the car, and is grateful when he finally gets in and they start to move. Then they stop suddenly, and noises tell her that they’re on a ferry. This isn’t the way to his farm! What’s going on??
It slowly dawns on her that she’s stowed away in a stranger’s car, one that’s identical to her brother’s, right down to the blanket slung over the backseat. She’s terrified of the scandal that is sure to be released when this unknown man discovers her in the backseat of his car. She realizes that they’re traveling to the south island of New Zealand, far away from everything she’s ever known. It’s an agonizing overnight trip, with no way for her to sneak out of her hiding place and high tail it back to Wellington.
Of course, Julia is discovered at the worst possible moment, right when the man and his fiancée are having a terrific row. The fiancée, Miriam, accuses the man, Adam Dare, of knowingly smuggling a girl home on the basis that they’re having an illicit affair. She completely blows her top, accepting no excuses, and flounces off to Picton, the nearest city.
Julia is mortified; Adam is furious. A landslide has trapped them on Adam’s farm for at least a week, so they have no choice but to put up together until the road clears. Adam lives in the family homestead with his grandfather, Nathaniel, his nephew, Luke, and his nieces, the twins Susanna and Esther. Everyone else is quite bemused by the situation, and decide in their own good-natured way to make the best of things. It’s lambing time, and an extra set of hands will come in handy, especially since Granny Lydia is in hospital with a broken leg.
Julia absolutely falls in love with the tiny, self-contained property on the bay; she considers it a little garden of Eden, just breathtakingly gorgeous. She can’t understand how anyone would want to displace a single blade of grass, much less pull down the old homestead and rebuild, as Miriam had demanded. The Dare family start to tell Julia the history of their family, starting with Captain Ephraim and his lady love, Camilla, who were apparently the first white people to land on that particular piece of property in the 1840s.
Julia proves herself to be an excellent farmhand and a good housekeeper. The Dares are absolutely enchanted by the sweet girl who magically fits into Camilla’s old clothes and seems to love the land just as much as she did. Julia, meanwhile, is bound and determined to patch up Adam’s relationship with Miriam, even though the two of them have no desire to see each other again.
This is a very pleasant read, especially if you like pioneer or small-town stories. It was also rather odd, in that other than the mention of cars and TV, this could easily pass as historical fiction, of the American Western variety, only its set in New Zealand with the requisite history stuck in. There’s a lot of pretty cringy White Savior stuff going on with all the ancestor worship, though the author does at least acknowledge that the native Maori had every right not to be happy with the white people trying to settle their land.
There’s also a lot of Christianity springing up: all of the Dares have Biblical names (and one of the reasons Julia believes Adam and Miriam are meant to be is that Miriam is a name that appears in the Good Book). There’s quite a bit of praying going on, lots of Biblical references in general, and of course smoothing the rough edges of white settlement by saying it was divinely ordained to happen. Sigh.
The end is a bit much – a big rescue scene where Adam plucks Julia from the rising tide in her underwear, after she’d belted herself to Captain Ephraim’s long-lost cutlass, just to bring the romances full circle. Adam confesses his love to Julia in the middle of the raging storm, with little Luke whining about being cold and hungry nearby. The Dare family is absolutely delighted, of course; they all hated Miriam (how dare she be modern in 1972!) but no one wanted to speak up because of Adam’s initial adoration of her. Julia feels herself less than in comparison with the glamorous Miriam, but is secretly glad that she’s so much better at keeping house for her man than the woman who teaches domestic science in the big city.
This is probably the best of the original vintage Harlequin romances that I’ve read thus far, but romance writing has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years. I’m in no hurry to seek out more of this author’s work.
Find more vintage romance reviews at The Vintage Romance Reader
October 29, 2013
This was a sweet enough story but there was a lot of history and family history in large swatches of story telling that tended to slow things down.
The story itself was quite sweet with the heroine trying to mend things for the hero who quite clearly did not want them mended. This got a little irritating at times.
Not a favourite Essie read for the above reasons but a pleasant enough read.
The story itself was quite sweet with the heroine trying to mend things for the hero who quite clearly did not want them mended. This got a little irritating at times.
Not a favourite Essie read for the above reasons but a pleasant enough read.
January 29, 2020
This was the first Essie Summers I ever read, also come to think of it probably one of the first Harlequins I ever read as well. It set a high standard! If you are looking for a gentle read with some humour, lots of history and a focus on the importance of family then this is the book for you. It's very dated (needless to say) but still a fun read.
July 6, 2024
Great to finally read again.
This book has always been a favorite among all the Essie Summers stories that I have read. I enjoyed meeting all the characters all over again. Looking forward to reading more books when they become available for Kindle. I love the descriptions of what Julia would be wearing.
This book has always been a favorite among all the Essie Summers stories that I have read. I enjoyed meeting all the characters all over again. Looking forward to reading more books when they become available for Kindle. I love the descriptions of what Julia would be wearing.
April 12, 2023
This had a cute premise.
Heroine stows away in what she thinks is her brother's car, but ends up in the hero's. Her discovery causes hero's fiance to break off their engagement. oops
Heroine ends up staying with the hero since he is now short a housekeeper. She fights her growing attraction to the hero because she feels guilty for messing up his engagement. Hero is a nice guy who obviously likes the heroine better than the ex, but they have a few mild misunderstandings before the romance is resolved.
I wish ES has just concentrated on NZ farming descriptions, travelogues and the sweet romance. Instead, the reader is subjected to page after page of history lessons and ancestor hagiography. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ So boring - and weird - to have characters drop pages from an encyclopedia into casual conversation.
And the "child bride" of 15 (after being courted for two years) really doesn't sit well in 2023!
Heroine stows away in what she thinks is her brother's car, but ends up in the hero's. Her discovery causes hero's fiance to break off their engagement. oops
Heroine ends up staying with the hero since he is now short a housekeeper. She fights her growing attraction to the hero because she feels guilty for messing up his engagement. Hero is a nice guy who obviously likes the heroine better than the ex, but they have a few mild misunderstandings before the romance is resolved.
I wish ES has just concentrated on NZ farming descriptions, travelogues and the sweet romance. Instead, the reader is subjected to page after page of history lessons and ancestor hagiography. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ So boring - and weird - to have characters drop pages from an encyclopedia into casual conversation.
And the "child bride" of 15 (after being courted for two years) really doesn't sit well in 2023!
June 27, 2025
This was a very old school romance. It was written in the early 70s and it definitely feels in some ways very dated. I enjoyed the various descriptions of the beauty of New Zealand's coastline and history lessons that were included. Adam and Julia seemed like good people, and I enjoyed their romance. I thought the way the author had Julia get into the wrong car and then get stuck at Adam's farm was hilarious and fun to read about. However, I do think the heavy emphasis on Adam's ancestors and history got to be a wearisome after a while. (I did also appreciate that the author acknowledged the Māori people and their right to be angry over their land being taken.)
August 20, 2024
A really dull Essie Summers where the OW had more going for her than the heroine. The OW managed to nab a more interesting man as well...because anyone would have been more interesting. The heroine being fascinated by the hero's ancestors is an over-used Essie trope, that was boring the first time. Now she's marrying a family, going to be considered second best, and spend her life cooking, cleaning and being bored to tears, like I was throughout this book.
July 4, 2024
After her brother refused her offer to come housekeep for him, Julia thought she had come up with the perfect plan — she would stowaway in his car, and since he wouldn't know till they got to his farm, he would have to let her stay. But she hid in the wrong car, and ended up on South Island, at the Bay of the Ancestors. Upon arrival, she is discovered by Adam Dare and his fiancee — who immediately breaks the engagement. Julia becomes obsessed with trying to heal the rift between them (which actually drove me a little crazy); but also quickly falls in love with both the Bay and Adam. How will she be able to bear to leave when the time comes? Good characterization, intriguing situations along with very enjoyable history add up to an engrossing read. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews