Thursday, July 1, 2010

Life After Betty: Summer of Summers

Essie Summers--my favorite of all the non-Betty Harlequin authors. To your left is most of my stash, hoarded one and two at a time almost exclusively from Goodwill. Most can be collected from Amazon but since she isn't reprinted (like our Dear Betty is) almost all the copies are used and some are coveted. Here's her wiki info:

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 yet 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 August 27, 1998.

She wrote more than 56 novels and I own something like 30 (give or take). I'll do a couple of posts on Essie in the next little while so won't review any just now but as a way of introduction, here's how she compares to Neels:

  • She's not as intentionally funny as La Neels but has many light-hearted threads. I'd also say she also delves deeper emotionally.
  • Betty occasionally acknowledges that Brighton exists, makes it clear her heroines (all but one-ish!) aren't into that sort of thing and then avoids the entire subject. Summers novels are not only more (for lack of a better word) earthy (she does give you some serious kissing to work with), they are also more explicitly willing to discuss the existential threat of Brighton while also being unwilling to ever go there (for the man and the woman--no double standards! Calloo, callay!). Plot points will more often involve personal struggles to avoid moral pitfalls--and not in that fake mid-80s Harlequin heavy-petting way. If an Essie heroine has accidentally developed a tendre for a married man it happens on the first page and she's leaving town on the second, a more suitable hero will be met thereafter.
  • But they don't strike me as all that preachy. If you're reading Neels as a haven from Brighton then this won't bug you at all about Summers.
  • Essie's books almost always revolve around THE MISUNDERSTANDING--often about names or identities or ambiguous communications. It took me reading a few of these before I began to get her pacing and learned to put the right weight on certain plot devices--much in the same way that I had to learn that death in a Neels was worth two pages at the very most and then we'd skip merrily away...
  • She's much more poetic than Neels (which I just adore but get that it's just not for everyone) and describes New Zealand so well that she was offered The Order of the British Empire for contributions to NZ tourism.
  • Her heroes are never doctors (or clergy even though Essie's husband was a Presbyterian minister). They are sheep farmers, engineers, writers or drapers (department store owners/managers). So it's kind of nice to get a diverse group there.
  • Summers does a better job at supporting characters than Neels. Often her books will give you a couple of threads, some with kids (fun-to-read-about kids not the dreary other kind), another love story...
In conclusion, Gentle Bettys, Essie Summers is such a fun writer. She's not as consistent as Betty but, while her lows are lower, her highs are higher.

To be continued...

16 comments:

  1. I do enjoy a good Summers. On a side note, she received a grand award from New Zealand for increasing tourism to the country with her books.

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  2. I think she was the Lord of the Rings of her day...

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  3. Ooh! I will have to give these a try.

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  4. That is so true! New Zealand and Australia are on my Bucket list because of authors like Essie Summers. Every page echoes with the beauty, history and the warmth of the people of her beloved country. She has a way of describing things that I love. My other favorite thing about her books is the poetry.
    A sample:
    My mom (the person who introduced me to Neels AND Summers...I love you, mom!) has this line from a poem that Summers quotes in one of her books- by Gerlad Massey:

    Not by appointment do we meet delight Or joy; they heed not our expectancy;
    But round some corner of the streets of life they of a sudden greet us with a smile.

    I first came across this quote in my Mom's copy of Palgraves Golden Treasury (book of poems) that also make it's appearance in Summers books.

    Victoria....my plug for your first Essie Summers-A Lamp for Jonathan. I read that book when I was 15. It has all the plot markers mentioned above and is a great read :)

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  5. I would be hard pressed to choose between Essie and Betty. Betty's heroines are a lot more innocent, but no less moral or intrinsically good.Essie's heroes have a bit more variety and depth (and one was a minister, Sweet Are the Ways, a universal favorite in the Essie Summers group I belong to), and some have things in their pasts which seem to be questionable at first look, but are a product of misunderstandings.
    Her writing of scenery is beyond compare, and she weaves history, real and fictional throughout her stories.
    Some of the books are harder to find now, the early ones, or the last four. They are available on ebay, and online book search sites.
    My recommendations for first reads would be
    Sweet are the Ways
    Moon over the Alps
    Autumn in April
    A Touch of Magic
    A Place Called Paradise
    South to Forget (Nurse Mary's Engagement)
    Beyond the Foothills.
    Yes A Lamp for Jonathon is a good read too!

    Laurel

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  6. Betty Keira here (using Betty Tia's computer): Thanks for the correction about the minister. I hadn't read any with that though I love how integrated ministers are as friends and parents. Honestly, I want to mail her books to all writers of religious (inspirational) romance and tell them that THIS is how you do it. No heavy handededness. Faith and life are smoothly integrated.

    But I have to admit that Lamp for Jonathan isn't my fave (don't throw things!) and tend to shy away from her meme of the couple having been parted for years on end. Not that they aren't written well it's just not my thing.

    Also, I just love how additional couples will get together in her books--they're very often older couples. As my mom likes to say,"Honey, it never dies."

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  7. Darn it! The mouse (electronic, no lives were lost) I threw did not make it to your living room :)
    I think that is why I love it, the fact that they were separated for years on end, and in spite of the misunderstandings, their feelings endured.It is very, very rare in real life but to quote your mom- it never dies!
    Another thing I love (and we've seen this in Betty's books too) Men quoting poetry! *Sigh*

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  8. Lamp for Jonathan SPOILERS: Honestly the only thing that kills me in this book (really kills me!) is that their years long separation boils down to a postal error!

    Otherwise fabulous romantic endurance!

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  9. Kandidly yours, Betty Laurel here. That poem appears in a book by the same name, Not by Appointment. Really like that one, too.

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  10. Oh yes, I meant to add, I got most of mine in lots on ebay, very inexpensively, and I have lota of duplicates.

    Betty Laurel

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  11. Another thing we love about Essie is the re-introduction of characters and couples from previous books, just as our Betty does. If you haven't seen this site, it's the best Betty site I've ever seen for sheer completeness, including crossovers.

    http://www.wtv-zone.com/lambch51/BNeels/BN_Homepage.html
    Betty Laurel

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  12. I love, love Essie Summers! Been rereading hers recently in sync with Neels. As I was saying on the post that lead me to look for Summers in this blog, I find her heroes are usually more fun and less remote. Loved Sweet are the Ways, but I also like Moon over the Alps, South to Forget, The House on Gregor's Brae...

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  13. What about Lucy Walker?

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    1. Lucy Walker was mentioned before on this blog:

      Life after Betty, March 11, 2010
      Recommendations from Betty Maria
      People might want to try Lucy Walker (1917-1987), an Australian writer. Bettys may enjoy The Call of the Pines, The Loving Heart, Wife to Order, The Distant Hills... She wrote about 35 novels (but be aware that Pepper Tree Bay, The Bell Branch, and one or two others are a little dark). Many are set in the outback. In the States you can find 70's editions published by Beagle Books.
      Betty Maria


      October 1, 2013
      Does anyone else wonder why Lucy Walker doesn't have a following like this?

      Lucy Walker on amazon.com

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  14. Funny I should find this blog today. My Essie Summers and Betty Neels books came home with me today after being under the bed in my old bedroom at my parents' house for many years. I haven't cataloged them, but I pretty much have all of the books except a few of each author. I don't have room for them, but will not donate them to a library because I know they won't be kept. Essie Summers was a favorite of mine as well as Betty, but I enjoyed the light-hearted writing of Essie's books.

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  15. Welcome Betty Deb! Several of our members belong to various paperback book swaps -- I only wish I knew how they worked. I donate my books to thrift shops, which is where a lot of our members have acquired their libraries of Bettys.

    When and why did you come to take an interest in Mrs. Neels and her work?

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