A tale of love and tragedy
Where fiction meets reality

South Africa, 1971: Nicholas and Elizabeth meet on summer vacation in the Wilderness, a sub-tropical paradise along the sprawling, golden shores of the Indian Ocean. They soon become inseparable, but their hopes of seeing each other again are shattered when Elizabeth’s mother, Constance, vows that they’re never going back.

Elizabeth's dad, Edwin, discovers that his boss and best friend, Lawrence Stevens, has lost his eight-year-old son to leukemia. Thinking they'll want to distance themselves from their painful memories, Constance sees an opportunity and offers the Stevens family a trade: her home for theirs.

Meanwhile, Lawrence’s wife, Rebecca, has started drinking, forcing him to get a maid to help around the house. Soon Rebecca finds that even her two daughters don’t need her anymore, which leads her down a path that could destroy what’s left of her family.

Despite her mother’s promise, Elizabeth meets Nicholas again in the Wilderness, but now she has a steady boyfriend (Pieter), and he doesn't know about Nicholas. She decides to forget the consequences and tell Pieter, but as she's leaving, she sees something that makes her want to forget Nicholas instead. Meanwhile, Constance has found the perfect match for Elizabeth--Charles Atherton: rich, handsome, and the schoolmate of Prince Andrew.

When Edwin gets back from vacation, he discovers that Lawrence has gambled the future of the company they jointly manage with a risky investment. Knowing that Edwin will replace Lawrence if he's fired, Constance sees another opportunity, but she’s forgotten one crucial thing: Lawrence is teetering dangerously close to the edge, and he has little left to lose. . . .

What others are saying about the book . . .

“A delightful read. It evoked in me memories of my own teenage years, growing up in Cape Town. My father was from the Free State Province of South Africa and went to St. Andrew’s School in Bloemfontein in the early 1920’s as a boarder. When we later went back to Bloemfontein as a family in the mid-1960’s, my father was Chair­person of the St. Andrew’s Old Boys’ Association and I got to know the school well, although I never attended St. Andrew’s. I am sure my father would have enjoyed the passages about the school and the typical schoolboy pranks. I now serve the people of South Africa as Ambassador to Panama and have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know the author. I look forward to reading Jonathan’s sequel to this book, as I am sure there will be one.”
    —Ambassador Leslie Manley, Ambassador from South Africa to Panamá, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Perú
 

“As the title suggests, Summer Love - Jealous Winter is a story of innocence and treachery. On one level there is pure, innocent teenage love in a simpler time, but under­neath, controlling even the innocent, is the con­niving manipulation of the antagonist. From the start, I was curious to discover how the innocence and treach­ery would mesh. Well, I was not disappointed. The ten­sion mounts; the suspense is gripping. This seemingly gentle novel became a page turner that threatened to keep me up all night! Eloff has cleverly woven the diver­gent threads into a powerful ending.”
    —Margaret Wolf, High School English Teacher, Alberta, Canada
 

“This fact-fiction fairytale is the beginnings of an amaz­ing love story intricately woven against the backdrop of South Africa. It is textured and spirited and manages to lure the reader into its pages. I expect to see great things from this young, new writer and am looking forward to the sequel.”
    —Geraldine Cilliers, Qualified Librarian and Book Reviewer (worked for Rootz Magazine in South Africa)
 

“Jonathan Eloff beautifully weaves together true life events of romance, heartbreak, betrayal, and suspense all the while describing South Africa’s natural landscape and daily life at the end of the Apartheid.”
    —Jody Hussey, ESL Teacher, B.A. in History from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
 

“Tender, hilarious, captivating . . .”
    —Sue Merralls, Special Events Organizer, Alberta, Canada

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