Betty Neels

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Betty Neels was born on September 15, 1910 in Devon to a family with firmroots in the civil service. She said she had a blissfully happy childhoodand teenage years, which stood her in good stead for the tribulations tocome with the Second World War. She was sent away to boarding school, andthen went on to train as a nurse, gaining her SRN and SCM, that is, StateRegistered Nurse and State Certificate of Midwifery.

In 1939 she was called up to the Territorial Army Nursing Service, whichlater became the Queen Alexandra Reserves, and was sent to France with theCasualty Clearing Station. This comprised eight nursing sisters, includingBetty, to 100 men! In other circumstances, she thought that might have beenquite thrilling! When France was invaded in 1940, all the nursing sistersmanaged to escape in the charge of an army major, undertaking a lengthy andterrifying journey to Boulogne in an ambulance. They were incrediblyfortunate to be put on the last hospital ship to be leaving the port ofBoulogne.But Betty's war didn't end there, for she was posted to Scotland, and thenon to Northern Ireland, where she met her Dutch husband. He was a seamanaboard a minesweeper, which was bombed. He survived and was sent to thesouth of Holland to guard the sluices. However, when they had to abandontheir post, they were told to escape if they could, and along with a smallnumber of other men, he marched into Belgium. They stole a ship and managedto get it across the Channel to Dover before being transferred to theAtlantic run on the convoys. Sadly he became ill, and that was when he wastransferred to hospital in Northern Ireland, where he met Betty. Theyeventually married, and were blessed with a daughter. They were posted toLondon, but were bombed out. As with most of the population, they made thebest of things.

When the war finally ended, she and her husband were repatriated to Holland.As his family had believed he had died when his ship went down, this was avery emotional homecoming. The small family lived in Holland for 13 years,and Betty resumed her nursing career there. When they decided to return toEngland, Betty continued her nursing and when she eventually retired she hadreached the position of night superintendent.

Betty Neels began writing almost by accident. She had retired from nursing,but her inquiring mind had no intention of vegetating, and her new careerwas born when she heard a lady in her local library bemoaning the lack ofgood romance novels. There was little in Betty's background to suggest thatshe might eventually become a much-loved novelist.

Her first book, Sister Peters in Amsterdam, was published in 1969, and bydint of often writing four books a year, she eventually completed 134 books.She was always quite firm upon the point that the Dutch doctors whofrequently appeared in her stories were *not* based upon her husband, butrather upon an amalgam of several of the doctors she met while nursing inHolland.

To her millions of fans around the world, Betty Neels epitomized romance.She was always amazed and touched that her books were so widely appreciated.She never sought plaudits and remained a very private person, but it madeher very happy to know that she brought such pleasure to so many readers,while herself gaining a quiet joy from spinning her stories. It is perhaps areflection of her upbringing in an earlier time that the men and women whopeopled her stories have a kindliness and good manners, coupled to honestyand integrity, that is not always present in our modern world. Her myriad offans found a warmth and a reassurance of a better world in her stories,along with characters who touched the heart, which is all and more than onecould ask of a romance writer. She received a great deal of fan mail, andthere was always a comment upon the fascinating places she visited in herstories. Quite often those of her fans fortunate enough to visit Holland diduse her information as an itinerary for their travels!

Betty Neels died peacefully in hospital on June 7, 2001, aged 91. Her careerwith Mills & Boon and Harlequin spanned 30 years, and she continued to writeinto her 90th year.