Southern Sunshine

by Gloria Bevan

She could almost believe he was telling the truth

Fleur was looking forward to returning to New Zealand and being reunited with her father and her fiance, Bart.

So she was astonished to find Bart gone and the autocratic Logan Page in virtual control of the station at Te Haruru. And what Logan Page had to say concerning Fleur's future husband wasn't reassuring.

She wanted to doubt him. But about Logan there was a tough and compelling honesty....

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1985

About the author

Gloria Isabel Bevan
aka Fiona Murray, Gloria Bevan

Gloria Isabel was born on 20 July 1911 in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, Australia, the daughter of a mining engineer. At three, her family moved to New Zealand, and considers herself a New Zealander. She lived in Auckland, from 1926 to 1936. On 1937, she married Thomas Henry Bevan, a building inspector, and they had three daughters.

After leaving school she worked as a typist, but she had been writing stories for as long as she could remember and feel "there's a certain magic about writing even when the characters refuse to act the way I want them to." She not begin to publishing until she was well into her fifties, first detective novels as Fiona Murray in 1965, She started corresponding with fellow New Zealand writer, Essie Summers who introduced her to publisher Alan Boon and under her married name, Gloria Bevan, she wrote 25 contemporary romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1969 to 1992, many of which are set in her beloved New Zealand. When not writing, she explored the many and varied exotic locations within reach of her suburban Auckland home. Her obvious love of her country and her particular talent for weaving interesting background information into her novels made her a popular romance writer of her era.

Gloria Bevan was interviewed by New Zealand author Rachel McAlpine in 1992 for The Passionate Pen. This was published in 1998. In The Passionate Pen's Introduction, McAlpine mentions that Gloria Bevan had moved into a rest home. According to New Zealand's National Library website, Mrs Bevan died in 1998

Reviews

[Margo]

This could have been such a good book except when it was revealed that the other woman was his sister. He was just too convincing and there were a few times when he taunted the h for her jealousy and played other mind games. When it was time for the big reveal, there were too many things that couldn't be explained away, which made it really gross.

[Melinda]

Heroine acts so immature and is very annoying.

[Last Chance Saloon]

Is it just me, or are the later Gloria Bevan books so totally different in feeling to the older ones? This is another aggressive/won't believe the hero/charmless heroine and a vapid, unpleasing hero. The OW (we are told at the end she is a former model and his sister) is nasty to the heroine and the hero sometimes uses his sister to make the heroine jealous. The heroine went on ad nauseum about being a nurse helper in Thailand. There was nothing I liked about this book, but it gets two stars when compared to some books I actively hated.