A few weeks ago I was given some Mills & Boon books by a friend and to my surprise discovered quite a few Classic editions from as early as the 50”s. Wow…..I was really excited…. books by Penny Jordan, Anne Weale, Violet Winspear…yes she of being apparently a virgin..well she never married…and who wrote the first steamy hot books for M&B…and by the way Anne Weale also had some sizzling ones…in fact I read somewhere that she is believed to be first M&B author to write the first oral sex scene in Antigua Kiss, pub in 1982 and also wrote a masturbation scene in Ecstasy pub in 1983. Wonder if those two books are still around!!!!
But I am going to talk about the book The House of the Seven Fountains which was published in 1957!!!!!! Of course writing in the 50’s was quite different to the 80’s, so this story is very tame…the hero/heroine kiss for the first time…a rather chaste kiss….well it tried to be more than that but this was not the time and place for good girls to go that far!!!!
I actually enjoyed the story…. at times I did find too much happening, too many characters floating around…though there are some interesting ones….Julian, the handsome, blond and rich dilettante who has a deeper side to him which he tries to hide by hitting the bottle..bottles….Cara, the gorgeous local English girl who smokes with a cigarette holder and wears fabulous outrageous clothes, pining for someone she believes does not love her so she goes out to be the ultimate party girl in the world of the English “settlers”….Mr Chen, the number one boy of the estate...there are dozens of characters that gives you insight of what it was like for the British living in the East during the 50’s.
Reading the book today who are struck by the racism that existed in that society. Servants are called boys even though they may be adult men, the upper class does not mix with the lowly servants and if you are found to do so, you are immediately ostracized from the group.
I found Vivien to be one of those women who wants to help everyone that is less fortunate than her…..perhaps a bit of guilt there!!!!!but maybe not…this is after all fiction….She’s quite a busy-body but a likeable one and I love the fact that she was not intimidated by what society dictated and lived the life she wanted…she certainly doesn’t bow down to the expectations of the “expats” society. She builds up an amazing relationship with Mr Chen and her staff and all those society outcasts.
Dr Tom….apart from there being such an age difference between him and Vivien….which I suppose was the norm in that period…he turns out to be quite a guy!!!! He does however, tend to treat her more as a child than a fully grown woman who is able to stand on her own.
The author creates a world that is so real…..the way she describes places, a little snippet of Vivien seeing the crew enjoying themselves at the hotel bar where she is staying and thinking “they deserve to relax after their hard work!”…wow certainly not how passengers feel about flight attendants in this age of today!!!!!!
This was a real sweet read. Being one of those Europeans who immigrated to Africa when I was a young child, I could identify with a lot of the things she mentions in the story. The cars, the local community club, the clothes, different foods, different people.
Of course Tom discovers that he loves Vivien…after overcoming his obstacle of not trusting young women because he was let down in his youth by a girl…..cute……
Naturally their honeymoon is slightly delayed because caring Vivien has hosted her now BFF Cara and Julian’s wedding at the House of Seven Fountains.
If you some day discover this book, it’s worth a read. Now going to dig in my bookshelves in the “Classic Romance” shelf and see if I can discover a few more books like these…who knows I might just find a copy of Antigua Kiss…remember the first hot sex scene in a M&B book!!!!!!
Oh yes…check the book cover – I LOVE IT!!!!! It’s so so retro!!!
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