Wish with the Candles

1972

Sister Peters in Amsterdam

1969

Tempestuous April/ Nurse Harriet Goes to Holland 1970

Blow Hot, Blow Cold/ Surgeon fr. Holland/ Visiting Cons’t – 1969

Amazon in an Apron/A Match for Sister Maggy/ Nurse in Holland – 1969

Damsel in Green

1970

Fate is Remarkable

1970

Tulips for Augusta

1971

Tangled Autumn

1971

The Fifth Day of Christmas

1971

Victory for Victoria

1972

Saturday’s Child

1972

Uncertain Summer

1972

Tabitha in Moonlight

1972

Cassandra by Chance

1973

Three for a Wedding

1973

Winter of Change/ Surgeon in Charge

1973

Stars Through the Mist

1973

Enchanting Samantha

1973

The Gemel Ring

1974

The Magic of Living

1974

Cruise to a Wedding

1974

The End of the Rainbow

1974

Heaven is Gentle

1974

Henrietta’s Own Castle

1975

A Star Looks Down

1975

Cobweb Morning

1975

The Moon for Lavinia

1975

Roses for Christmas

1975

A Small Slice of Summer

1975

Esmerelda

1976

The Edge of Winter

1976

A Gem of a Girl

1976

A Matter of Chance

1977

The Hasty Marriage

1977

Grasp a Nettle

1977

Pineapple Girl

1977

The Little Dragon

1977

Britannia All at Sea

1978

Philomena’s Miracle

1978

Never While the Grass Grows

1978

Ring in a Teacup

1978

Sun and Candlelight

1979

The Promise of Happiness

1979

Midnight Sun’s Magic

1979

Winter Wedding

1979

Last April Fair

1980

The Silver Thaw

1980

Caroline’s Waterloo

1980

Hannah

1980

When May Follows

1980

Not Once But Twice

1981

An Apple from Eve

1981

Heaven Around the Corner

1981

Judith

1982

A Girl to Love

1982

All Else Confusion

1982

A Dream Came True

1982

Midsummer Star

1983

Roses and Champagne

1983

Polly

1984

Never Too Late

1983

Never Say Goodbye

1983

Once for All Time

1984

Heidelberg Wedding

1984

A Summer Idyll

1984

Year’s Happy Ending

1984

At the End of the Day

1985

Magic in Vienna

1985

Never the Time and the Place

1985

A Girl Named Rose

1986

Two Weeks to Remember

1986

The Secret Pool

1986

Stormy Springtime

1987

Off with the Old Love

1987

The Doubtful Marriage

1987

A Gentle Awakening

1987

The Course of True Love

1988

When Two Paths Meet

1988

Paradise for Two

1988

The Fateful Bargain

1989

No Need to Say Goodbye

1989

The Chain of Destiny

1989

Hilltop Tryst

1989

The Convenient Wife

1990

The Girl with Green Eyes

1990

A Suitable Match

1990

Roses Have Thorns

1990

A Little Moonlight

1991

The Most Marvelous Summer

1991

The Final Touch

1991

A Kind of Magic

1991

An Unlikely Romance

1992

Romantic Encounter

1992

A Happy Meeting

1992

The Quiet Professor

1992

An Old-fashioned Girl

1992

The Proposal

1993

A Girl in a Million

1993

At Odds with Love

1993

The Awakened Heart

1993

A Valentine for Daisy

1993

A Secret Infatuation

1994

Wedding Bells for Beatrice

1994

A Christmas Wish

1994

Waiting for Deborah

1994

Dearest Mary Jane

1994

Dearest Love

1995

The Bachelor’s Wedding

1995

Fate Takes a Hand

1995

The Right Kind of Girl

1995

Marrying Mary

1996

A Kiss for Julie

1996

The Vicar’s Daughter

1996

Only by Chance

1996

A Christmas Proposal

1996

The Mistletoe Kiss

1997

The Daughter of the Manor

1997

Love Can Wait

1997

The Fortunes of Francesca

1997

An Ideal Wife

1998

Nanny by Chance

1998

A Winter Love Story

1998

Making Sure of Sarah

1999

An Innocent Bride

1999

A Good Wife

1999

A Christmas Romance

1999

Discovering Daisy

1999

Matilda’s Wedding

2000

Dearest Eulalia

2000

The Doctor’s Girl

2001

Always and Forever

2001

An Independent Woman

2001

An Ordinary Girl

2001

Emma’s Wedding

2001

Sister Peters in Amsterdam

1969

Tempestuous April/ Nurse Harriet Goes to Holland 1970

Blow Hot, Blow Cold/ Surgeon fr. Holland/ Visiting Cons’t – 1969

Amazon in an Apron/A Match for Sister Maggy/ Nurse in Holland – 1969

Damsel in Green

1970

Fate is Remarkable

1970

Tangled Autumn

1971

Saturday’s Child

1972

Uncertain Summer

1972

Tabitha in Moonlight

1972

Stars Through the Mist

1973

Enchanting Samantha

1973

The Gemel Ring

1974

Cruise to a Wedding

1974

The End of the Rainbow

1974

Heaven is Gentle

1974

A Small Slice of Summer

1975

Esmerelda

1976

A Matter of Chance

1977

The Hasty Marriage

1977

The Little Dragon

1977

Britannia All at Sea

1978

Philomena’s Miracle

1978

The Promise of Happiness

1979

Midnight Sun’s Magic

1979

Caroline’s Waterloo

1980

When May Follows

1980

Not Once But Twice

1981

An Apple from Eve

1981

Heidelberg Wedding

1984

Magic in Vienna

1985

Never the Time and the Place

1985

A Girl Named Rose

1986

The Secret Pool

1986

The Doubtful Marriage

1987

Paradise for Two

1988

The Fateful Bargain

1989

No Need to Say Goodbye

1989

The Chain of Destiny

1989

A Suitable Match

1990

The Final Touch

1991

A Happy Meeting

1992

Wedding Bells for Beatrice

1994

Dearest Love

1995

A Kiss for Julie

1996

The Vicar’s Daughter

1996

The Mistletoe Kiss

1997

A Good Wife

1999

Discovering Daisy

1999

Dearest Eulalia

2000

The Girl with Green Eyes

1990

*The complexities of their cross-overs required duplicate citations for both Stars Through the Mist (1973) and Not Once But Twice (1983)

Touching color-blocks indicate cross-overs, moving from top to bottom and left to right.

Thus, in the first cluster, Sister P’s hero & heroine appear in two future volumes and both The Gemel Ring and Stars TtM offers cameos from two prior volumes.

Betty by the Crossovers

Cross-over Characters in the Novels of Betty Neels

• Characters from 28 novels appear in 34 subsequent novels
• 32 novels include such cross-over characters
• The first recurring characters are Adelaide and Coenraad of Neels’s first published novel, Sister Peters in Amsterdam (1969), who recur in her third published novel, Visiting Consultant (1969) (originally Blow Hot, Blow Cold; also published as Surgeon from Holland)
• The most-frequently recurring characters are Christina and Duert of Not Once But Twice (1981), who appear in three subsequent books:
• A Girl Named Rose (1986)
• A Good Wife (1999)
• Dearest Eulalia (2000)
• Four books include cross-over characters from two previous novels:
• Stars Through the Mist (1973)
• The Gemel Ring (1974)
• The End of the Rainbow (1975)
• Dearest Eulalia (2000)
• Heidelberg Wedding (1984) and The Chain of Destiny (1989) are the only novels with non-Dutch heroes that recur in future novels – 7% of all recurrences, where the novels have 33% non-Dutch heroes
• 51 books, 38%, have characters that participate in cross-overs
• 23, or 17%, have appearances from previous novels’ characters
• 20, or 15%, have characters that re-appear in subsequent novels
• 8, or 6%, have a hero/heroine pair that both meets prior characters and appears in a subsequent book