Cornish novels

    Orion have very kindly sent me two new novels set in Cornwall:

     A Cornish Affair by Liz Fenwick is "a bewitching, escapist read", which sounds perfect for a relaxing holiday - preferably in the West Country itself.

    It begins in dramatic style when Jude bolts from the church leaving her fiancé waiting at the altar. "Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the Trevillion family's extensive library. The house is a welcome escape for Jude, full of history and secrets, but when its new owner arrives, it's clear that Pengarrock is not beloved by everyone.

    As Jude falls under the spell of the house, she learns of a family riddle stemming from a terrible tragedy centuries before, hinting at lost treasure. And when Pengarrock is put up for sale, it seems time is running out for the house and for Jude."

    The Obituary Writer is by Lauren St. John who has turned her hand from children's fiction for which she is well known (see the Laura Marlin Mysteries, for example) to this, her first novel for adults.

    "Nick Donaghue, a handsome obituary writer for The Times, leads a charmed existence until he is caught up in one of Britain's worst ever train crashes. When he survives unscathed, his friends and colleagues consider him the luckiest man on earth. Only Nick knows the truth - that he is tormented by horrific nightmares. When they start to appear grimly prescient, his meticulously constructed urban life is derailed.

    Escaping to the wilds of Cornwall strikes him as the answer, especially after he becomes captivated by a beautiful woman and a tempestuous horse playing carefree on a beach. But when his nightmares return, they threaten his fragile new world.

    As Nick struggles to understand his dreams, his demons and - most dangerously of all - his passions, he realises that falling in love might come at a terrible price."

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    Both books sound like great reads, and their Cornish setting is an added attraction - that wild, dramatic place, romantic, dangerous ... you'll know exactly what I mean! From Daphne du Maurier to Winston Graham, Susan Howatch and Mary Wesley to Rosamunde Pilcher, writers have used that 'tempest-tost' location to great effect. Favourite Cornish novels, anyone?