Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop by Ali McNamara - Another of her Wonderful Magical Novels set in St Felix

 

Kate and Clara's Curious Cornish Craft Shop is Ali McNamara's third magical novel set in the fictional town of St Felix in Cornwall.

Kate has been running her craft shop in Harbour Street successfully for eighteen months, so she is furious when Jack opens his own art supplies shop, in direct competition, just up the road.

However, they are brought together by the magic of an old sewing machine and an artist's easel which Noah, who owns the Noah's Ark antique shop in the town, has bought in a house clearance sale. 

Overnight, the sewing machine embroiders a picture for Kate, whilst Jack finds a painting on the easel. When they put them together, as the two pictures match, they find themselves observing a moving image of St Felix back in the 1950s where Maggie, a young girl in a wheelchair like Jack, and her mother, Clara, meet an artist who gives them a picture that he has sketched of them by the harbour.

It is a wonderful book to lose yourself in as you learn about the parallels between Clara's story and Kate's, whilst her affection for the grumpy Jack deepens despite the advances of the suave Julian James, who is the son of the famous St Felix artist, Winston James, whose paintings are being exhibited at the Lyle Gallery. 

Escape into this enchanting story, you can't help but enjoy it!

An Almost Perfect Holiday by Lucy Diamond - Full of Family Confessions, Secrets and Relationships

Despite being called An Almost Perfect Holiday, Lucy Diamond has written a really perfect book which is full of confessions, secrets and relationships between mothers, fathers and children. Exactly the sort that might come under scrutiny when families go away together.

Lorna and her husband, Roy, let out their three beautiful holiday cottages set around a sparkling blue swimming pool in Cornwall. But this year, drama unfolds as the three women who come to stay in them find that this holiday will mean that they will reassess their lives, put the past behind them and venture out into a new future that they hadn't reckoned on, and even Lorna and Roy find their lives have changed immeasurably too.

Em, a middle-aged mother to Izzie, aged sixteen, and Jack, aged fifteen, arrives with her boyfriend, George, who has had to bring his demanding seven-year-old daughter, Seren, because his ex-wife, Charlotte, has had to go to Berlin on business. This completely upsets Em's dream holiday where she had looked forward to spending more time with George, but Seren keeps getting in the way saying how much better her mummy is than Em and causing trouble for Izzie.

Izzie has her own problems, trying to impress her friends on social media because, for them, this is the Summer of Saying Yes.  However, Jack is pleased to meet fourteen-year-old Amelia, who arrives with her mum, Maggie, but when Izzie chaperones them on a trip to Falmouth, trouble ensues.

Maggie, a teacher, has vowed never to trust another man since her husband, Will, left her to bring up their daughter alone. But things go wrong for her when Amelia gets in contact with Will and is invited to spend a few days in Exeter with his new family. So gone are Maggie's dreams of bonding again with her teenage daughter over countryside walks, and instead, she has time to consider her own life.

The last woman to arrive is Olivia. The others think that her husband has bought her this holiday for some rest and relaxation, but little do they know what her secret really is.

This is a wonderfully engrossing book with believable characters. It is very hard to put down because you really care how Em's blended family's problems are resolved; whether Maggie and Amelia can build new bridges; and what Olivia is hiding.

If you can't go on holiday this year, then An Almost Perfect Holiday will make you glad that you stayed at home to read it!

Daisy's Vintage Cornish Camper Van by Ali McNamara - A Magical Bank Holiday Read!

Daisy's Vintage Cornish Camper Van, a magical, romantic story, is Ali McNamara writing at her best!
Set in the fictional Cornish seaside town of St Felix, Ana arrives to collect a VW camper van, left to her by her best friend, Daisy, but when she finds it at Bob's Bangers, she is horrified to discover how dilapidated it is. It needs completely re-building. However, Malachi, who is looking after Bob's business whilst he is away, offers to do the work, and Ana finds Snowdrop Cottage to stay in whilst it's done. (The cottage is owned by Poppy and Jake who appear in The Little Flower Shop by the Sea and you can read my review here.)
When Malachi discovers some mysterious postcards written in the 1940s to the 1990s from Lou to Frankie, but never posted, hidden in the van, Ana sets out to find out who these people were, and return the cards. She's helped by Noah who runs an antiques shop with his young assistant, Jess, to track down some of the missing cards.
With Ana finding both Malachi and Noah very attractive, she has more on her mind than just returning the postcards to their rightful owner!

This is a fabulous story, set in glorious Cornwall, with wonderful characters and more than a hint of magic. I loved it so much, that I will certainly read it again!

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Miranda Dickinson - A Romantic, Heartwarming, and Magical Read

Wow! What a romantic story!
I've just finished reading Somewhere Beyond the Sea by Miranda Dickinson, told in alternate chapters by the protagonists, Seren and Jack.

Seren's father has died, leaving her MacArthur's Gallery, tucked into a tiny courtyard in St Ives, and his vision of saving The Old Parsonage, the former home of Elinor Carne, an astronomer who discovered new stars in the nineteenth century when women's endeavours were ignored and their glory given to their male rivals instead.
Seren is a designer and makes beautiful jewellery out of the seaglass that she finds on her morning wanderings on Gwithian Beach. One day, she discovers an half-finished star, made out of seaglass pebbles, and can't resist finishing it herself.

Jack Dixon is on his own with his daughter, Nessie, now that his wife, Tash, has died. He's a qualified and experienced builder, but he's struggling to find work to make ends meet. He and Nessie live in a beach chalet on a holiday park in return for doing odd-jobs for his friend, Jeb. Each evening, he and Nessie go down to Gwithian Beach and half make a seaglass star, hoping the mermaids will complete it.

When Jack is offered a job by Bill Brotherson to redevelop the parsonage site and turn it into flats, Jack and Seren find they are on opposing sides. Will they ever discover who is making/completing the seaglass stars? Will they ever be able to have a future together if the Brotherson scheme goes ahead?

With her colourful descriptions of St Ives, and the many other characters, I could tell how much Miranda Dickinson loves the place. It's one of those novels that really takes you out of your armchair and transports you to somewhere magical. With its song-title title, it is more like her earlier novels and is a heartwarming, marvellous read. I loved it and I'm sure the story of Seren and Jack, and the beauty of St Ives will stay with me for a very long time. It's almost as good as taking a holiday in St Ives itself!

The Little Flower Shop by the Sea by Ali McNamara - A Fantastic Summer Read!

Apart from her dislike of roses, Poppy Carmichael has a secret that she cannot share with anyone. So when she inherits The Daisy Chain, her Grandma Rose's flower shop, and returns to St Felix in Cornwall to run it, she has to face up to all the memories that the seaside town holds.
I loved The Little Flower Shop by the Sea by Ali McNamara. There is a great cast of characters including Amber who has been sent from New York to help her run the shop by Poppy's mother, an international florist, who seems always to be a shadowy figure at the end of the phone, but who plays a big part in organising Poppy's life; Jake, a local nurseryman, who supplies the flower shop, but who can't let go of the memories of his wife, Isabelle, who died, leaving him with their two children, Charlie and Bronte; Ash, who carries on the job of gardening at Trecarlan Castle that his grandfather once did, although the building is in disrepair, and it's owner, Stan, is in a retirement home; not to mention Basil, Rose's dog, and Miley, Jake's monkey!
It's a fabulous summer story, and with the castle, the monkey and, secret footpaths along the cliffs, it is almost in parts like Enid Blyton for grown-ups, especially when Jake and Ash both take an interest in Poppy. Add to this, Rose's books about the magic language of flowers, reflected in the chapter headings, which change the lives of people of St Felix, and the wonderful picture of the seaside town that Ali McNamara evokes, you can almost hear the gulls and smell the fish and chips!
This is a fantastic summer read which made me laugh out loud, and cry too. Whether you are going to Cornwall for your holiday or not, this book is the next best thing!

Ali's new book, The Summer of Serendipity set on the west coast of Ireland is out now, and I can't wait to read it!

Class by Jenny Colgan, writing as Jane Beaton - An up-to-date yet nostalgic, novel about boarding school life by the sea

What girl didn't like Enid Blyton's boarding school books: Malory Towers, The Twins at St Clare's, or The Naughtiest Girl in the School?

I loved them, and so did Jenny Colgan -  so much that she decided to write her own school series for grown-ups, set in the twenty-first century, not the Forties and Fifties, and telling the story of the teaching staff as well as the girls. The first ones were published a few years ago, by Jane Beaton, but nobody knew that she was really Jenny Colgan as they were quite different from her usual books. Now they've been republished with Jenny Colgan boldly on the cover for us all to enjoy!

Class: Welcome to the Little School by the Sea  is set at a fictional school in Cornwall with four towers. Sounds familiar? Enid Blyton based Malory Towers on Lulworth Castle in Dorset (Wikipedia).

The main characters are:

Maggie Adair, from Glasgow, who applies for a teaching post at Downey House School to get some experience of teaching girls who want to learn instead of the indifferent students at the local comprehensive, is amazed to get the job.

Dr Veronica Deveral, the headteacher, who needs to keep the school successful to ensure it receives certain funding, is being besieged by the inspectors, and on a more personal level has a secret that she's kept close to her heart for many years.

Felicity Prosser, known as Fliss, doesn't want to leave her friends in Guildford and follow in her elder sister's footsteps to Downey House, and sets out to do all she can to be sent home (a bit like Elizabeth Allen in The Naughtiest Girl in the School!).
Alice Trebizon-Woods, who befriends Fliss and sets out to lead her astray.
And Simone Pribetich, a scholarship girl, who is so proud to have a place at Downey House, but finds it so hard to fit in, no thanks to Alice and Fliss.
Add Stan, Maggie's devoted boyfriend back in Scotland and David McDonald, the handsome English master from the neighbouring boys' school (and his dog!), and you have a wonderful story of the ups and downs of life at Downey House.
If you're looking for an up-to-date, yet nostalgic, novel about boarding school life by the sea, this is the book for you!
And if you want to know what happens next, Rules: Things are Changing at the Little School by the Sea, is also out now, and there are four more to come. Now where's my torch so I can get reading under the bedclothes?!

A Merry Mistletoe Wedding by Judy Astley - The Perfect Book to go with the Last of Your Christmas Chocolates!

Happy New Year! But, if you've still got lots of Christmas chocolates to eat up, here's the perfect book to go with them - A Merry Mistletoe Wedding by Judy Astley.
It's the end of August, and Thea has just spent her summer holidays in Cornwall with Sean and is loathe to go back for the new term at her primary school in London, so he asks her to come back to Cornwall and marry him at Christmas.
Meanwhile, her parents, ageing hippies, Anna and Mike, are thinking of downsizing from the family home and releasing some cash so they can enjoy their retirement, and sister, Emily, gives birth to Ned. Add Charlotte and Alex from It Must Have Been the Mistletoe, Judy Astley's book which tells how they all got snowed in last Christmas at Cove Manor, and you have a great cast of characters.
A Merry Mistletoe Wedding is a really engrossing novel, and kept me enthralled finding out where Anna and Mike would move to, whether Emily would ever go to Cornwall again after last year's fiasco in the snow, and whether Sean and Thea would actually manage to tie the knot on Christmas Day, despite the return of her ex, Rich.
I adored it and would love to read another story to find out what happens to these wonderful people next!

For a Monumental, Epic Read Try The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans

In my Summer Reading List, I described this book as an epic read, and it certainly is!
The Butterfly Summer by Harriet Evans tells the dual stories of Nina Parr, who inherits Keepsake, an old crumbling house in Cornwall, and of her grandmother, Thea, and the curse that has that affected all the Parr women since the first Nina Parr bore Charles II's child.

In 2011, on the second anniversary of her divorce from Sebastian, an old lady at the London Library scares Nina by seeming to recognise her. She tells her she knows her father is not dead, and she tells her about Keepsake, a house which seems vaguely familiar. This is just the beginning of a roller-coaster ride where Nina finds out the truth about her family and the legacy of Keepsake.
Seventy-three years before to the day, Thea finally leaves Keepsake for London, escaping with the help of her friend, Matty, to get away from her cruel father after her mother's death. Thea's life is told in the from of a story which she writes down, called The Butterfly Summer, telling of her life that last summer before the war.

Harriet Evans draws the characters, and describes London and Keepsake so well that I was entirely drawn into the modern story of Nina and her American mother, Delilah; George, her father, a lepidopterist (butterfly expert!); Mrs Poll, who lives upstairs and helps look after Nina as a child, and Sebastian, Nina's ex-husband, and his insufferable mother, Zinnia, and also the Thirties story of Thea, and the people she meets in London: Michael and Misha, Russian émigrés who give her a job at the Athena Press, and Al who lives upstairs in the same building.
The other element is the theme of butterflies. Apart from the butterfly garden and butterfly house at Keepsake, hidden down by the Helford River, there are the ideas of freedom, capture, and metamorphosis.

It is a monumental story, in turns: intriguing, mysterious, romantic, shocking, magical, dramatic, compulsive, frightening, violent, tragic and uplifting. In short, I couldn't wait for a minute to sit down and read some more, and I was very sad when I came to the last page and had to close the book for the very last time. I think that I might well read it again!









 

Looking for adventure in Morocco? Follow The Saffron Trail with Rosanna Ley

Reading The Saffron Trail by Rosanna Ley is the next best thing to packing your bag and heading for Morocco!
The setting of the story is always an important ingredient in Rosanna Ley's novels, and this one is no exception where the heat and the bustle of the souks in Marrakech reflect the conflict and confusion in the minds of the main protagonists, Nell and Amy, and the saffron field in Cornwall  reflects the peace that Nell's mother tries to find and maintain.
The story begins one night when Nell's mother walks over the Cornish cliffs to her death. She hasn't replanted the saffron corms on her farm this year. Nell can't understand why and wonders if it was because she planned to die.
Nell meets Amy at a cookery school in Marrakech. She's been sent by her husband, Callum, to get over her mother's death and to learn about the cuisine so she can open her own restaurant. Amy has been sent on an assignment by her boss to take photos of Moroccan life for an exhibition. She is also trying to trace, Glenn, her great aunt Lillian's son, who ran away instead of being drafted to Vietnam in the sixties, and whom Lillian hasn't seen since. All she has is a postcard from Morocco.
So follow Nell and Amy on the adventure of their lives as they follow their own saffron trail. Discover how the rift between Lillian and Mary changed the sisters' lives for ever. Find out what happened to Glenn and see if he ever returns to his ageing mother, and the reason why Nell's mother took that last walk over the cliffs.
It's a wonderful novel, and it makes me want to pack my bag and head for Morocco one day myself!

The Saffron Trail by Rosanna Ley is available here.

Rosanna's new novel, Last Dance in Havana, set in Cuba, is also available here. I can't wait to read it!

Last Minute Romantic Christmas Read - It Must Have Been The Mistletoe by Judy Astley

Christmas is nearly over, but there is still just enough time before Twelfth Night to read It Must Have Been The Mistletoe by Judy Astley!
If you dreamt of spending a snowy Christmas in Cornwall, this book is for you. There's snow, mistletoe, turkey, and all the family: Anna and Mike want to make this a perfect holiday because they are getting a divorce!
The story centres around Thea, their eldest daughter, whose boyfriend has left her to raise poodles with his sister(!). She feels awkward that her own siblings, Emily and Jimi are there  with their children and partners, and she is alone. There is Sean, a surf dude, whom she likes, who runs the holiday home with his partner, Paul, but he is obviously unobtainable.
The snow begins to fall, and Charlotte, Mike's singing friend who helped him make DVDs of the family's past Christmases, turns up and so does Alex, the son of a lady at Anna's book-group, with whom she's got very friendly indeed and who she's invited to come along.
As the snow gets deeper and the house gets cut off, what will happen to these revellers?
I really enjoyed reading it. Judy Astley has a real knack of immersing you in the story, and you feel as if you are right there with the family as they build snowmen, and have a beach barbecue and carols in the church whilst they sort out their problematic romantic lives.