About Essie Summers
Ethel Snelson Summers, well-know as Essie, was born on Bordesley Street in
Christchurch, New Zealand on July 24, 1912. Her parents, Ethel Snelson (for
whom she was named) and Edwin Summers, had immigrated to New Zealand from
England exactly one year earlier. She had an older brother, Edwin and a
younger brother, William. She grew up in a warm and happy home where reading
and story-telling were highly valued, and from a very early age little Essie
was making up her own stories. When a teacher read aloud "Emily of New Moon"
by L M Montgomery, she knew then that she wanted to be a writer. When she
was young she had red hair, like many of her heroines, and she has said that
she had a very quick temper, which she later learned to control. Essie left
school early for financial reasons and began work at Londontown Drapers and
she did similar work for the next 13 years, until her marriage. Essie
married William Flett, a minister, after a courtship conducted mainly by
letters, and they settled into parish life together. They lived in various
parts of the North and South Islands of New Zealand though they eventually
settled in Hawke's Bay in the North Island. They had two children, William
Temple and Elizabeth Lucia, and seven grandchildren. As a minister's wife
and a mother, her life was very full, but she was still a prolific writer of
short stories, poems and, for a time, a newspaper column. Finally, her
husband told her that if she was to achieve her goal of having a novel
published by the time she was forty-five, the time to start was now. With
his help she was able to concentrate on her writing and had her first novel
published the day after her forty-fifth birthday! She went on to become one
of the world's most beloved romance writers and a strong supporter of other
aspiring writers. When she had achieved some financial security with her
writing, she and her husband fulfilled a life-long dream and travelled to
Great Britain and parts of Europe, where she was able to visit many of the
places where her ancesters had lived. She writes very movingly in her
autobiography about seeing the places where her parents had come from and
meeting her English relatives. Essie went on to use many of those settings
in her novels. In all she wrote fifty-six novels and an autobiography, plus
her family history, before her death in Napier at the age of eighty-six on
August 27, 1998. She was predeceased by her husband in 1984. Many of her
fans have travelled to New Zealand to see for themselves the country that
she described so vividly in her books. Because of this Essie Summers was
offered The Order Of The British Empire for her contributions to tourism.
Novels
New Zealand Inheritance (1957)
Bachelors Galore (1958)
The Time and the Place (1958)
Lark in the Meadow (1959)
The Master of Tawhai (1959)
Moon Over the Alps (1960)
Come Blossom Time, My Love (1961)
No Roses in June (1961)
House of the Shining Tide (1962)
Where No Roads Go (1963)
South to Forget (1963)
Bride in Flight (1964)
The Smoke and the Fire (1964)
No Legacy for Lindsay (1965)
No Orchids By Request (1965)
Sweet Are the Ways (1965)
Heir to Windrush Hill (1966)
His Serene Miss Smith (1966)
Postscript to yesterday (1966)
A Place Called Paradise (1967)
Meet on My Ground (1968)
Rosalind Comes Home (1968)
Revolt and Virginia (1969)
The Kindled Fire (1969)
Summer in December (1970)
The Bay of the Nightingales (1970)
Return to Dragonshill (1971)
The House On Gregor's Brae (1971)
South Island Stowaway (1972)
The Forbidden Valley (1973)
A Touch of Magic (1973)
The Gold of Noon (1974)
Through All the Years (1974)
Anna of Strathallan (1975)
Not By Appointment (1976)
Beyond the Foothills (1976)
Goblin Hill (1977)
Adair of Starlight Peaks (1977)
The Lake of the Kingfisher (1978)
Spring in September (1978)
My Lady of the Fuchsias (1979)
One More River to Cross (1979)
The Tender Leaves (1980)
Autumn in April (1981)
Daughter of the Misty Gorges (1981)
A Lamp for Jonathan (1982)
Season of Forgetfulness (1983)
A Mountain for Luenda (1983)
MacBride of Tordarroch (1984)
Winter in July (1984)
To Bring You Joy (1985)
High-country Governess (1987)
The South Horizon Man (1995)
So Comes Tomorrow (1995)
Caleb's Kingdom (1996)
Design for Life (1997)
Bachelors Galore (1958)
The Time and the Place (1958)
Lark in the Meadow (1959)
The Master of Tawhai (1959)
Moon Over the Alps (1960)
Come Blossom Time, My Love (1961)
No Roses in June (1961)
House of the Shining Tide (1962)
Where No Roads Go (1963)
South to Forget (1963)
Bride in Flight (1964)
The Smoke and the Fire (1964)
No Legacy for Lindsay (1965)
No Orchids By Request (1965)
Sweet Are the Ways (1965)
Heir to Windrush Hill (1966)
His Serene Miss Smith (1966)
Postscript to yesterday (1966)
A Place Called Paradise (1967)
Meet on My Ground (1968)
Rosalind Comes Home (1968)
Revolt and Virginia (1969)
The Kindled Fire (1969)
Summer in December (1970)
The Bay of the Nightingales (1970)
Return to Dragonshill (1971)
The House On Gregor's Brae (1971)
South Island Stowaway (1972)
The Forbidden Valley (1973)
A Touch of Magic (1973)
The Gold of Noon (1974)
Through All the Years (1974)
Anna of Strathallan (1975)
Not By Appointment (1976)
Beyond the Foothills (1976)
Goblin Hill (1977)
Adair of Starlight Peaks (1977)
The Lake of the Kingfisher (1978)
Spring in September (1978)
My Lady of the Fuchsias (1979)
One More River to Cross (1979)
The Tender Leaves (1980)
Autumn in April (1981)
Daughter of the Misty Gorges (1981)
A Lamp for Jonathan (1982)
Season of Forgetfulness (1983)
A Mountain for Luenda (1983)
MacBride of Tordarroch (1984)
Winter in July (1984)
To Bring You Joy (1985)
High-country Governess (1987)
The South Horizon Man (1995)
So Comes Tomorrow (1995)
Caleb's Kingdom (1996)
Design for Life (1997)
Omnibus
Summer in December / Bay of the Nightingales / Return to Dragonshill (1976)
Master of Tawhai / His Serene Miss Smith / Place Called Paradise (1977)
Essie Summers Fifth Harlequin Omnibus (1980)
No Legacy for Lindsay/ No Orchids By Request / Sweet Are the Ways (1980)
The House on Gregor's Brae / South Island Stowaway / Touch of Magic (1981)
The Forbidden Valley / Through All the Years / Gold of Noon (1984)
Other Miss Donne / Thistle and the Rose / Beyond the Foothills (1985) (with Jane Arbor, Margaret Rome)
The Little Dragon / Adair of Starlight Peaks / The Dark Warrior (1987) (with Betty Neels and Mary Wibberley)
Master of Tawhai / His Serene Miss Smith / Place Called Paradise (1977)
Essie Summers Fifth Harlequin Omnibus (1980)
No Legacy for Lindsay/ No Orchids By Request / Sweet Are the Ways (1980)
The House on Gregor's Brae / South Island Stowaway / Touch of Magic (1981)
The Forbidden Valley / Through All the Years / Gold of Noon (1984)
Other Miss Donne / Thistle and the Rose / Beyond the Foothills (1985) (with Jane Arbor, Margaret Rome)
The Little Dragon / Adair of Starlight Peaks / The Dark Warrior (1987) (with Betty Neels and Mary Wibberley)
© 2009 FantasticFiction Bibliography by D C Wands Last Updated:
Questions? Comments? Corrections? Please email webmaster@fantasticfiction.co.uk
Questions? Comments? Corrections? Please email webmaster@fantasticfiction.co.uk

