Summer People — Leslie Lance

On holiday in Devon, Gilly Ferne fell in love with the picturesque fishing village of Spume…and with the dark-haired young farmer, Neil Vallory, who rescued her and her puppy from a precipitous cliff. When her unpredictable father, Hayley Ferne, suddenly decided to buy Seaspray Cottage, and transfer himself, his three daughters, and his Handicrafts Studio to Spume, Gilly was thrilled. Neither she nor her father could foresee the stormy weather ahead.

For generations past, the Spumes of Headlands Farm had owned most of Spume. Neil's formidable Aunt Fran, the last of the Spumes, was fiercely possessive over the village, and bitterly resented “The Summer People,” the tourists and campers who flocked there during the summer. Moreover, Aunt Fran had set her heart on buying Seaspray Cottage. It would be ideal for Neil when he married and Aunt Fran was determined that he should marry her god-daughter, capable, attractive, Marion McMurray.

The arrival of the Ferne's a handsome widower with three pretty daughters caused a considerable flutter and some hostility locally. It was not until the autumnal storms threatened to devastate the village that Gilly and Hayley were able to prove that they weren't just “Summer People.”