Case 13
- Novels, North Canterbury
Essie Summers. The Lark in the Meadow. London: Mills & Boon, 1959.
Lark in the Meadow (also published as Nurse Abroad) is set in the Cheviot Hills of North Canterbury, which are seen by travellers driving from Christchurch to Kaikoura and points north. This novel includes a young character named Pauline, the namesake of the family friend from Weston who became a writer too [Refer WC4]. The heroine is a newcomer, a nurse who puts her training to good use on a farm some distance from medical help.
Essie Summers. Nurse Abroad. London: Mills & Boon, 1962.
Essie Summers. Postscript to Yesterday. London: Mills & Boon, 1966.
In Postscript to Yesterday, the author reprises her interest in relationships, both past and present, impacted by interference and a sense of what might have been. The setting, not far from the Waimakariri Gorge, has as its backdrop foothills that eventually become the high country of North Canterbury, an area within reach of the parish in Rakaia where the Fletts served after Weston.
Essie Summers. The Forbidden Valley. London: Mills & Boon, 1973.
The hills, rivers and gorges of Lees and Okuku Valleys are close to The Forbidden Valley at the heart of the novel of that name. Those areas belong to the hinterland that turns into the gateway to the Alps. Charlotte Smith encounters both natural and human barriers while trying to solve the mystery of her cousin's sudden disappearance from the valley.
