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Wayaway / The Way Through the Valley / Not Wanted On Voyage
Wayaway by Dorothy Cork
The Way Through the Valley by Jean S. MacLeod
Not Wanted On Voyage by Kay Thorpe
The Way Through the Valley by Jean S. MacLeod
Not Wanted On Voyage by Kay Thorpe
559 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1977
About the author
Jean S. MacLeod
144 books15 followersJean Sutherland MacLeod was born in 20 January 1908 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was the daughter of Elizabeth Allen and John MacLeod. Her father, who was a civil engineer, moved with jobs. Her education began at Bearsden Academy, continued in Swansea and ended in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. She moved to North Yorkshire, England to marry with Lionel Walton on 1 January 1935, an electricity board executive, who died in 1995. They had a son, David Walton, who died two years before her. She passed away on 11 April 2011 at 103 years.
Jean S. MacLeod started writing stories for the magazine The People's Friend, before sold her first romance novel in 1936. She wrote contemporary romances, most of them were set in her native Scotland, or in exotic places like Spain or Caribbean, places that she normally visited for documented. From 1948 to 1965, she also published under the pseudonym of Catherine Airlie. She published her last novel in 1996, a year after her husband death. She was member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, where she met the mediatic writer Barbara Cartland, who was not too friendly.
Jean S. MacLeod started writing stories for the magazine The People's Friend, before sold her first romance novel in 1936. She wrote contemporary romances, most of them were set in her native Scotland, or in exotic places like Spain or Caribbean, places that she normally visited for documented. From 1948 to 1965, she also published under the pseudonym of Catherine Airlie. She published her last novel in 1996, a year after her husband death. She was member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, where she met the mediatic writer Barbara Cartland, who was not too friendly.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 20, 2019
Rating is for the first story: Wayaway
Assistant-to-a-TV producer heroine from London visits her brother in Queensland, Australia for two reasons: her health and to force her boss to offer marriage instead of shacking up. Yes, our heroine is a virgin who is holding out for marriage and she’s playing the long game.
She likes a challenge, so when she hears about a lady’s companion position in the Outback she finagles the job. The hero, head of the station and the grand prize in the courtship stakes, doesn’t want to give her the job. She’s too sexy and citified. This makes the heroine all the more determined to win his approval and prove him wrong.
The usual Outback hi-jinks ensue.
*Mustering
*Horse accidents
*Getting lost
*Gossip on the radio
*Hat lecture
*Picnics
*sunset bird watching
Heroine proved herself competent in cooking, household management, dealing with catty women, riding, and landing the biggest fish in the proverbial pond. The best part was that the London guy did offer marriage (clever heroine) and hero knew it. This heroine is as much as a prize as he is.
There are two OM and two OW just to keep it interesting. This has a Regency houseparty vibe as the narration was firmly on the fate of all these couples.
The Second story is The Way Through the Valley 3 stars
Set in Switzerland at Christmas time – home of skiing, avalanches, horse-drawn carriages, castles and chateaux. Nurse heroine travels there to care for her boyfriend’s (OM) godmother. OM is hoping the old lady will give him money to start an antiques shop on Edinburgh and thinks the heroine will impress her. Heroine is not happy to be used this way, but she is at loose ends and goes along.
Heroine soon discovers that the love of her life (hero) is working at an orphanage/clinic in the castle the old lady owns. H/h had parted in anger 3 years before when hero wanted her to marry him and move to London and heroine refused without really explaining why. Hero was bitter and heroine sorrowful. And they both still are still in the same mindset when they meet again. (Heroine felt she had to work so her brother and sister could get their education. She was raised by a single mom and her grandmother who sacrificed for her nursing career.)
Nothing much happens with the central romance. Hero is cruel several times to the heroine, but he does carry her up a mountain after a skiing accident. The OM showing up for the holidays doesn’t help, either.
But the focus of the story is on the old lady and her orphans, especially the 16 year-old half Romany girl she adopted eleven years ago. The old lady thinks she’s having an affair with a fellow “gipsy” and wants the heroine to influence the girl. Heroine thinks of her as a potential OW to the hero and the OM! Thankfully, that is not the case.
Once an avalanche has wiped out the house the heroine lived in and the 16 year-old is told the truth of her heritage, the author dispatches the OM and allows the H/h to finally set aside their pride and sorrow for an HEA.
This is a charmingly told story – with some casual racism thrown in to remind the reader we’re not in enlightened times – but if you can get past that and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-romance, you’ll find a solid vintage family saga with a travelogue thrown in for good measure.
The third story is Not Wanted on Voyage
3.5 stars rounded up because the whaling ship setting was so unusual.
The setup: doctor heroine boards the wrong ship on a foggy night. She thinks she’s on the Atlantic Star and she’s really on the Antarctic Star. She doesn’t meet the captain (hero) until the next morning when it’s too late to turn back to England. Hero’s plan is to let her off in Cape Town, South Africa and pick up another doctor for their five months in the Antarctic hunting and processing whales.
That doesn’t work out because the hero can’t find another doctor, so he reluctantly asks the heroine to stay on. The hero doesn’t think women should be on ships and heroine looks like his fiancé who ran off with his bank account while he was at sea. So she has two strikes against her.
The romance in this story is minimal. A couple of kisses and conversations while looking at: icebergs, aurora borealis, huge waves, whale pods, etc . . This is really about the heroine adapting to an all male environment and showing her plucky, competent personality.
The H/h fall “in love” before the voyage is over and make plans for how they will accommodate the H/h’s careers once children arrive. I wish that had been an epilogue to show it actually working.
There is a side story about the third mate whose fiancé has given him an ultimatum – give up the sea or me. That isn’t really resolved, either. So the ending feels more HFN rather than HEA.
Also, the whale hunting/processing might be triggering. The author does explain how it’s done. I’m no Greenpeace activist, but it does give me pause to read about killing six whales in one day.
Assistant-to-a-TV producer heroine from London visits her brother in Queensland, Australia for two reasons: her health and to force her boss to offer marriage instead of shacking up. Yes, our heroine is a virgin who is holding out for marriage and she’s playing the long game.
She likes a challenge, so when she hears about a lady’s companion position in the Outback she finagles the job. The hero, head of the station and the grand prize in the courtship stakes, doesn’t want to give her the job. She’s too sexy and citified. This makes the heroine all the more determined to win his approval and prove him wrong.
The usual Outback hi-jinks ensue.
*Mustering
*Horse accidents
*Getting lost
*Gossip on the radio
*Hat lecture
*Picnics
*sunset bird watching
Heroine proved herself competent in cooking, household management, dealing with catty women, riding, and landing the biggest fish in the proverbial pond. The best part was that the London guy did offer marriage (clever heroine) and hero knew it. This heroine is as much as a prize as he is.
There are two OM and two OW just to keep it interesting. This has a Regency houseparty vibe as the narration was firmly on the fate of all these couples.
The Second story is The Way Through the Valley 3 stars
Set in Switzerland at Christmas time – home of skiing, avalanches, horse-drawn carriages, castles and chateaux. Nurse heroine travels there to care for her boyfriend’s (OM) godmother. OM is hoping the old lady will give him money to start an antiques shop on Edinburgh and thinks the heroine will impress her. Heroine is not happy to be used this way, but she is at loose ends and goes along.
Heroine soon discovers that the love of her life (hero) is working at an orphanage/clinic in the castle the old lady owns. H/h had parted in anger 3 years before when hero wanted her to marry him and move to London and heroine refused without really explaining why. Hero was bitter and heroine sorrowful. And they both still are still in the same mindset when they meet again. (Heroine felt she had to work so her brother and sister could get their education. She was raised by a single mom and her grandmother who sacrificed for her nursing career.)
Nothing much happens with the central romance. Hero is cruel several times to the heroine, but he does carry her up a mountain after a skiing accident. The OM showing up for the holidays doesn’t help, either.
But the focus of the story is on the old lady and her orphans, especially the 16 year-old half Romany girl she adopted eleven years ago. The old lady thinks she’s having an affair with a fellow “gipsy” and wants the heroine to influence the girl. Heroine thinks of her as a potential OW to the hero and the OM! Thankfully, that is not the case.
Once an avalanche has wiped out the house the heroine lived in and the 16 year-old is told the truth of her heritage, the author dispatches the OM and allows the H/h to finally set aside their pride and sorrow for an HEA.
This is a charmingly told story – with some casual racism thrown in to remind the reader we’re not in enlightened times – but if you can get past that and the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-romance, you’ll find a solid vintage family saga with a travelogue thrown in for good measure.
The third story is Not Wanted on Voyage
3.5 stars rounded up because the whaling ship setting was so unusual.
The setup: doctor heroine boards the wrong ship on a foggy night. She thinks she’s on the Atlantic Star and she’s really on the Antarctic Star. She doesn’t meet the captain (hero) until the next morning when it’s too late to turn back to England. Hero’s plan is to let her off in Cape Town, South Africa and pick up another doctor for their five months in the Antarctic hunting and processing whales.
That doesn’t work out because the hero can’t find another doctor, so he reluctantly asks the heroine to stay on. The hero doesn’t think women should be on ships and heroine looks like his fiancé who ran off with his bank account while he was at sea. So she has two strikes against her.
The romance in this story is minimal. A couple of kisses and conversations while looking at: icebergs, aurora borealis, huge waves, whale pods, etc . . This is really about the heroine adapting to an all male environment and showing her plucky, competent personality.
The H/h fall “in love” before the voyage is over and make plans for how they will accommodate the H/h’s careers once children arrive. I wish that had been an epilogue to show it actually working.
There is a side story about the third mate whose fiancé has given him an ultimatum – give up the sea or me. That isn’t really resolved, either. So the ending feels more HFN rather than HEA.
Also, the whale hunting/processing might be triggering. The author does explain how it’s done. I’m no Greenpeace activist, but it does give me pause to read about killing six whales in one day.
Displaying 1 of 1 review