Daphne Clair de Jong is a popular New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 of over 75 romance novels in Mills & Boon and other publishers since 1977 as Daphne Clair and Daphne de Jong, and under the pseudonyms Laurey Bright, Clair Lorel, and Clarissa Garland, and she also publishes poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and articles

Article (publishing)

An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...

.

Daphne Clair de Jong was a founding member and first president of Feminists for Life

Feminists for Life

Feminists for Life of America is a non-profit, pro-life feminist, non-governmental organization . Established in 1972 and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence." FFL is dedicated...

 New Zealand, and wrote articles articulating its position in the seventies. Feminists for Life had no policies on homosexuality/lesbianism or divorce, as stated in the constitution. She subsequently resigned from the organisation, which had increasingly become associated with social conservatism

Social conservatism

Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...

 and conservative Christianity

Conservative Christianity

Conservative Christianity is a term applied to a number of groups or movements seen as giving priority to traditional Christian beliefs and practices...

 and later became Women for Life, dropping its feminist focus.

Biography

Daphne Clair de Jong (née Williams) was born on 1939 in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. She decided to be a writer when she was 8 years old. She published her first short story when she was 16. She writes romantic novels, poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and articles

Article (publishing)

An article is a written work published in a print or electronic medium. It may be for the purpose of propagating the news, research results, academic analysis or debate.-News articles:...

. She conducts a romance writing workshop for aspiring writers with Robyn Donald

Robyn Donald

Robyn Donald is a prolific writer of romance novels from New Zealand.She writes for the English Mills and Boon romance series, and all her books have also been reedited under Harlequin Enterprises Limited series....

 and offers her home as a writers' retreat. She has won awards for both her romantic novels and other works.

Clair is married to a Netherlands-born

Netherland

Netherland is a critically acclaimed novel by Joseph O'Neill. It concerns the life of a Dutchman living in New York in the wake of the September 11 attacks who takes up cricket and starts playing at the Staten Island Cricket Club.-Plot summary:...

 man, they have five children and live in the winterless north of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

.

Single novels

• Return to Love (1977)
• Streak of Gold (1978)
• My Darling Clementina (1978)
• Jade Girl (1978)
• Jasmine Bride (1979)
• The Sleeping Fire (1979)
• Something Less Than Love (1979)
• A Wilder Shore (1980)
• Darling Deceiver (1980)
• Frozen Heart (1980)
• Loving Trap (1980)
• Never Count Tomorrow (1980)
• Dark Remembrance (1981)
• Promise to Pay (1981)
• Pacific Pretence (1982)
• Marriage under fire (1983)
• A Ruling Passion (1983)
• Take Hold of Tomorrow (1984)
• Dark Dream (1985)
• No Escape (1987)
• No Winner (1987)
• The Wayward Bride (1989)
• Flame on the Horizon (1993)
• Dark Mirror (1994)
• Infamous Bargain (1994)
• Edge of Deception (1995)
• Wilde Man (1996)
• Grounds for Marriage (1996)
• Wilde Heart (1996)
• Lover's Lies (1997)
• Reckless Engagement (1997)
• Carpenter's Mermaid (1997)
• Summer Seduction (1998)
• Wife to a Stranger (1998)
• Makeshift Marriage (1999)
• His Trophy Mistress (2001)
• The Marriage Debt (2002)
• Claiming His Bride (2003)
• The Determined Virgin (2003)
• The Brunellesci Baby (2004)

Omnibus in collaboration

• The Jasmine Bride / Sweet Promise / Turbulent Covenant (1987) (with Janet Dailey
  Janet Dailey
  Janet Anne Haradon Dailey is an American author of numerous romance novels as Janet Dailey . Her novels have been translated into nineteen languages and have sold over 300 million copies worldwide....
  
   and Jessica Steele
  Jessica Steele
  Jessica Steele is a popular British author of over 85 romance novels. Her novels have been published by Mills & Boon since 1979.-Biography:...
  
  )
• The Tycoon's Virgin (2007) (with Sandra Field
  Sandra Field
  Jill MacLean is a Canadian writer of children's fiction book and under the pseudonym of Sandra Field, Jan MacLean and Jocelyn Haley a popular author of over 70 romance novels in Harlequin Enterprises Ltd since 1974....
  
   and Cathy Williams
  Cathy Williams
  Cathy Williams is a British writer of romance novels in Mills & BoonWilliams was born on Trinidad in the West Indies. She lives in Chiswick London, England which her husband Richard and their three daughters; Charlotte, Olivia and Emma.-Single Novels:...
  
  )

Single novels

• Tears of Morning (1981)
• Sweet Vengeance (1982)
• Deep Waters (1983)
• When Morning Comes (1984)
• Fetters of the Past (1984)
• Long Way from Home (1985)
• Rainbow Way (1987)
• Jacinth (1988)
• Sudden Sunlight (1989)
• Games of Chance (1989)
• A Guilty Passion (1990)
• The Older Man (1992)
• The Kindness of Strangers (1993)
• An Interrupted Marriage (1994)
• A Perfect Marriage (1995)
• Summer's Past (1996)
• Shadowing Shahna (2002)
• Life with Riley (2002)
• With His Kiss (2003)
• Dangerous Waters (2003)
• Her Passionate Protector (2004)
• Wed in White (2007)

Virgin Brides Series Multi-Author

• Marrying Marcus (2001)
• The Heiress Bride (2002)

Omnibus in collaboration

• Her Passionate Protector / Wanted (2004) (with Ruth Langan
  Ruth Langan
  Ruth Ryan Langan is an award-winning author of romance novels. She is a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award winner and has twice been nominated for Romantic Times Reviwers' Choice Awards, for Jade and Return of the Prodigal Son. She has spent much of her career writing historical romance...
  
  )
• Shadowing Shahna / Millionaire for Molly (2004) (with Marion Lennox
  Marion Lennox
  Marion Lennox is a popular writer of over 60 medical romance novels. She began publishing in 1990. She has also written "tender" romantic novels under another pseudonym, Trisha David.-Biography:...
  
  )

Single novels

• Lord Brandsley's Bride (1981)
• Miss Miranda's Marriage (1982)
• Huntersford (1999)

Omnibus in collaboration

• Venus, Vagabonds and Miscellanea (1993) (with Ann Macrae and Anna Granger)

External links

• Daphne Clair and Laury Bright at Fantastic Fiction