- Flora Kidd
Infobox Writer
name = Flora Kidd
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pseudonym = Flora Kidd
birthdate = 1926
birthplace =Liverpool ,England
deathdate =March 19 ,2008
deathplace =Saint John, New Brunswick ,Canada
occupation =Novelist
nationality = British-Canadian
period = 1966-2000
genre =Romantic novel
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website =Flora Kidd (b. 1926 in
Liverpool ,England ) was a British-Canadian popularwriter of over 70romance novel s inMills & Boon from 1966 to 2000.Biography
Flora born on 1926 in
Liverpool ,England . In 1949, she graduated at theLiverpool University , where she met Robert Kidd, her husband.The Kidd marriage moved to
Scotland , where Flora began teaching. There, she wrote her first novel, that was published in 1966. She continued to write while their children grew.In 1977, the family Kidd instaled in
Saint John, New Brunswick ,Canada .Book Notes
Flora Kidd's debut novel "Visit to
Rowanbank " (1966) is set in a first person narrative, and is indicative of the historical development of this genre by theMills & Boon publishing house since all subsequent romance novels published by the series have been written in third person narratives. A critical year for switch from first to third person can be traced to the year 1968 through an example of a collection ofIsobel Chace novels, harlequin omnibus 7, where "The Saffron Sky" (1967) and "A Handful of Silver" (1968) were both written in first person narratives, while the last novel "The Damask Rose" (1968) switched to a third person narrative.Scotland and its surroundings are a mainstay of Flora Kidd's stories in the beginning of her writing career.She realistically exploits her time spent in
Scotland in stories that are full oflocal color describing customs, manners and re-creating dialects. For example, "Whistle and I'll Come" (1967), "My Heart Remembers" (1971) and "Stranger in the Glen" (1974)."Whistle and I'll Come" (1967) is an homage to
Scotland 's national poetRobert Burns .'Whistle my Love and I'll Come Down' is a Scottish love ballad that predatedRobert Burns and was refined by the latter into a wistful song. Flora Kidd adapts this popular song into a romantic novel. The following stanza fromRobert Burns ' song is introduced in the beginning of her story.'O whistle, an' I'll come to ye, my lad;
O whistle, an' I'll come to ye, my lad:
Though father and mither should baith gae mad,
O whistle, an' I'll come to ye, my lad.Robert Burns
Like her 1967 release "Whistle and I'll Come", she sets up the hero and the heroine of "When Birds Do Sing" (1970) against the theme of
John Keats ' poem "La Belle Dame sans Merci " ("The Beautiful Lady without Pity"). Although "La Belle Dame sans Merci " opens with a description of the knight in a barren landscape, "haggard" and "woe-begone", it is the heroine Lindsay in "When Birds Do Sing" (1970) who shares such sentiment. Unlike the conclusion of the first stanza ofKeats ' poem, Flora Kidd's story has a happy ending where birds do sing.O what can ail thee, knight at arms,
Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has wither'd from the lake,
And no birds sing.John Keats
"My Heart Remembers" (1971) is a title borrowed from
Robert Louis Stevenson 's poemTo S.R. Crockett written in Valimia, which is also mentioned in the story. Sally from little seaside town ofPortbride ,Scotland finds her sib, a local expression best defined as soul-mate, in Ross since both share in the communion with surroundingMoorland :Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the rain are flying,
Blows the wind on the moors to-day and now,
Where about the graves of the martyrs the whaups are crying,
My heart remembers how!Robert Louis Stevenson
"The Legend of the Swans" (1973) is based on one of many Highland folklores, where a pair of swans return to the
loch . The swans have come back after being away for three hundred years. Then the chief of the Macneal clan was the master of theglen where theloch belonged. Like the current master Captain Will Fox, he was a soldier, too. He brought a young bride with him from the South. But she was often lonely. One day she disappeared. She went south when the swans flew south. Theglen has been cursed ever since. However, the curse is lifted when history repeats itself once more as Gina arrives in the glen with Will.Her love for the
Scott ish high lands is evident in the warmth of the characters depicted in "Stranger in theGlen " (1974). Here the arrival of Duncan coincides in Jan's imagination of the long awaited return of a local hero whose last descendent, a young man, emigrated to Australia.Flora Kidd inevitably uses various other locations for her stories. However,
Scotland remains asentiment al favorite. For example, her 1979 novel "Stay Through the Night" set on the other side ofAtlantic in theCaribbean , contains an episode in which the mainprotagonist s are back inScotland .The plot for "Gallant's Fancy" (1974) also takes off in the
Caribbean Islands . The story presents an interesting anecdote to the 'typing pool' where all aspiring working gilrs were relegated at one time or another. A job offer in far awayCaribbean seemed to the heroine a chance to break from the routine."The Canadian Affair" (1979) shows Flora Kidd in her transition mode from
Scotland toCanada .Bibliography
ingle Novels
*Visit to Rowanbank (1966)
*Jinx Ranch (1966)
*Love Alters Not (1967)
*Whistle and I'll come (1967)
*Nurse at Rowanbank (1967)
*Strange as a Dream (1968)
*Wind So Gay (1968)
*When Birds Do Sing (1970)
*The Dazzle on the Sea (1971)
*My Heart Remembers (1971)
*Love Is Fire (1971)
*Remedy for Love (1972)
*Cave of the White Rose (1972)
*Taming of Lisa (1972)
*Beyond the Sunset (1973)
*Night on the Mountain (1973)
*If Love Be Love (1973)
*The Legend of the Swans (1973)
*If Love Be Blind (1973)
*Gallant's Fancy (1974)
*Paper Marriage (1974)
*Enchantment in blue (1975)
*Stranger in the Glen (1975)
*The Bargain Bride (1976)
*The Dance of Courtship (1976)
*The Summer Wife (1976)
*The Black Knight (1976)
*Jungle of Desire (1977)
*Night of the Yellow Moon (1977)
*Dangerous Pretence (1977)
*To Play With Fire (1977)
*Sweet Torment (1978)
*Castle of Temptation (1978)
*Marriage in Mexico (1978)
*Canadian Affair (1979)
*Passionate Encounter (1979)
*Tangled Shadows (1979)
*Together Again (1979)
*Stay Through the Night (1979)
*Arranged Marriage (1980)
*Silken Bond (1980)
*Wife by Contract (1980)
*Passionate Stranger (1981)
*Beyond Control (1981)
*Personal Affair (1981)
*Bride for a Captain (1981)
*Meeting at Midnight (1981)
*Between Pride and Passion (1982)
*Make Believe Marriage (1982)
*Tempted to Love (1982)
*Serenade Pour Anne (1983)
*Dark Seduction (1983)
*Tropical Tempest (1983)
*Dangerous Encounter (1983)
*Passionate Pursuit (1984)
*Desperate Desire (1984)
*Open Marriage (1984)
*Flight to Passion (1984)
*Secret Pleasure (1985)
*Arrogant Lover (1985)
*Passionate Choice (1986)
*The Married Lovers (1986)
*Masquerade Marriage (1987)
*Beloved Deceiver (1987)
*When Lovers Meet (1987)
*The Loving Gamble (1988)
*A Risky Affair (1989)
*The Twenty-Third Man (1997)Marco Polo Series
#To Hell or Melbourne (1994)
#Until We Meet Again (1998)
#Restless Spirits (2000)Collections
*Love Is Fire / Remedy for Love / The Legend of the Swans (1983)
Omnibus In Collaboration
*Make Way For Tomorrow / My Heart Remembers / The Blue Mountains Of Kabuta (1975) (with
Gloria Bevan andHilary Wilde )
*Spirit Sun / Shadow of the Past / Beyond the Sunset (1977) (withDorothy Cork andMonica Douglas )
*Stranger in the Glen / The Man At Kambala / Lord of the Sierras (1978) (withKay Thorpe andAnne Weale )References and Resources
* [http://www.eharlequin.com Harlequin Enterprises Ltd's Website]
External links
* [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/k/flora-kidd Flora Kidd's Webpage] in Fantastic Fiction's Website
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