Tag: Cornwall

Jo Lambert on Creating a Sense of Place

Inspiration for Lyndbrook Hall

I love to celebrate authors who have connected with me over the years. Jo Lambert lives east of Bath, and she has written an impressive seven books. Books are a destination for readers, and Jo creates a powerful sense of place in her romantic suspense novels.  I invited Jo to tell me about the inspiration for the sense of place in her writing.

A SENSE OF PLACE – Pure imagination, reality or a little of both – what’s best for you?

Inspiration for the Black Bull

As an author it’s not only about developing the plot and creating the characters, it’s also getting the setting right.  Whether you are writing a psychological thriller or contemporary romance set in the city or the suburbs – or maybe like me, using a rural/small town community – creating the perfect backdrop can occasionally throw up some problems. That is why personally I’ve always found it easier to base my fictional locations on actual places.

My first novel When Tomorrow Comes was set in rural West Somerset.  For this I used my own experiences of village life.  Of course it’s not just using familiar places, it can also include buildings such as houses, pubs and hotels. They can all be used to help the writing process.   In Summer Moved On and Watercolours in the Rain, set in South Devon village of Lynbrook, The Bull Inn is actually based on a local village pub I still visit.  Similarly Lynbrook Hall is a real place about five miles away from the pub. It was for sale while I was writing and the on line estate agent’s photographs were a bonus in helping create my fictitious manor house.

Set in Cornwall Shadows on the Water is a story of family ties, lost love and tangled loyalties

My current novels are set in Cornwall. For A Cornish Affair, I used a hotel I’d seen while staying in Richmond. It was totally right for the one central to the book which sat on a cliff overlooking a small coastal fishing village.  And for my latest novel, Shadows on the Water, I’ve taken parts of Fowey and Dartmouth and blended them into the estuary town of Kingswater.

Inspiration for Tarwin House Hotel

Another useful aid is Google Map. In one of my novels my character was in Verona, a place I had visited several years before.  During her stay she had gone on walkabout in the city. Apart from The Arena and Juliet’s Balcony I had a very hazy memory of our day trip there.  Luckily Google Map came to the rescue.   It enabled me to ‘walk’ in her footsteps and describe the things she was seeing, giving the whole scene a far more authentic feel.

In the end, of course, it depends very much on individual preference. Some writers are happy to use their imagination while others set their stories in real places.  And then there are those like me who ‘borrow’, taking reality and remoulding it to suit the story they are writing.  It’s all about what works best for you really.

I also enjoy the freedom to create a new village based on places I have encountered in my travels. The place wraps itself around my characters and listens to their hopes, dreams and sadness. Jo Lambert has recently released Shadows on the Water. Set in Cornwall Shadows on the Water is a story of family ties, lost love and tangled loyalties. I look forward to visiting Jo’s destination.

Jo Lambert is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors. She has been writing since 2008

More about Shadows on the Water

After the tragic death of her fiancé, Ava Warren is slowly rebuilding her life.  She has a supportive family, great friends and a job she loves, managing holiday letting company Estuary Escapes in her home town of Kingswater. Another relationship is the last thing she wants or needs. Until one evening she meets Alex Penhaligon.

Alex’s father Sam owns Heron’s Gate Vineyard and Alex has recently returned from California, where he has been working for the past five years.  A case of mistaken identity gets them off to a bad start. But discovering his error, Alex is anxious to make amends and soon persuades Ava that he’s not quite as arrogant as she thinks he is. As their friendship begins to turn into something much deeper, Ava wonders whether she can at last put the past behind her and make a new future with Alex.

But someone is watching.  A man who not only thinks Ava should be his but also holds a long term grudge against Alex.  And he’s determined to get his own way irrespective of the lengths he has to go to or who gets hurt in the process.

Social Media Links –
Website: http://jolambertbooks.com
Blog: http://jolambertwriter.blog
Twitter: @jolambertwriter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jolambert185
Linkedin: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jo-lambert-6 4644530
Instagram: jolambertwriter185

 

Please see all my guests’ posts at Mail from the Creative Community and also my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A copy of my novel is available here.

Cornwall’s Secret

On arrival at the log cabin, we were charmed by the interior and greeted by a sparkling blue winter sea view.

Winter became spring, as I completed the final edits of my novel: You Can’t Go It Alone. A holiday in February is now a romantic memory, but I must share a secret I discovered in Cornwall.

As a Valentine’s Day gift, my husband planned a winter holiday to Cornwall.  Severe weather warnings via every form of communication heralded the beginning of our adventure.  Why worry about Siberia when you live in the UK, and Cornwall is always warmer?

On arrival at the log cabin, the interior charmed us then distracted us with sparkling sea view. Fairy lights adorned the archway above luxurious leather sofas. The pine interior filled with rugs, cushions and rocking chairs reminded me of Norwegian interiors in style magazines. A cute, bespoke kitchen contained everything required to cook grilled Dover Sole in a butter sauce.  Cosy and warm in the cabin, we ignored the weather warnings broadcast on the television.

On the first day, we went to look at St Michael’s Mount, but it was closed.  No worries, I wanted to visit the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden, as I adore The Hepworth in Wakefield – well she was a Yorkshire lass.  Alas, you guessed it, the museum was closed. Off next to Trengwainton Gardens but it was closed until Sunday. The bitter cold drove us back to the log cabin for the evening.

Glorious cliffs sculpted by time and nature: Land’s End

No one can close Land’s End, so we travelled to the famous landmark and planned to grab lunch there.  Land’s End is accessed through an entrance you would find at a theme park – so it could be closed.  We walked past the souvenir shops before we reached Land’s End.  Glorious cliffs chiselled by the elements and reminiscent of Hepworth’s sculptures greeted us. Lunch in The First and Last Inn was not possible as it was closed.  I wore two coats, two hats and a hood teamed with my waterproof trousers to keep out the arctic temperatures.

Mousehole is the ‘loveliest village in England’ according to DylanThomas.

Amused by the name ‘Mousehole’, we called at the village for a very late lunch. Quaint stone houses welcomed us in the sheltered harbour.  We ate cheese sandwiches in a friendly coffee shop tucked away at the end of the village.  Apparently, Dylan Thomas described Mousehole as ‘the loveliest village in England. And, there was an ice cream parlour called Jessie’s, so we ordered vanilla ice cream.

We stood in the amongst the silhouettes of people found in a Lowry painting.

Rejuvenated by our rest in Mousehole, we braved the cold to visit beaches. Golden white sand marked with endless footsteps greeted us at Sennen Cove. We rambled along the beach. Light showcased the beach in all its glory, and we stood in the amongst the silhouettes of people who had escaped from a Lowry painting.  The next day we hiked around the coast in St Ives and marvelled at the magical beauty of the golden light.  Sadly, our camera could not capture the texture of an artist’s brush.

We marvelled at the magical beauty of the light in St Ives

Winter is the best time to view the beaches of Cornwall. Forget the art galleries and tourist traps and enjoy nature’s treasures.  Step onto the beaches and walk inside a painting to enjoy nature’s pallet.  Snow fell as we drove home.  Thankfully, the Severn Bridge remained open until we got home.  Visiting Cornwall, in winter, felt like having the world to ourselves – an idyllic romantic winter paradise. Shh, don’t tell anyone…

 

Please see all my travels at Handbag Adventures and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

 

Talland House and the Mystery of Mrs Ramsay’s Death

Maggie reading on St Ives beach being filmed by a French TV crew.

I have waited over a year for the release Talland House by Maggie Humm. According to the blurb, “Talland House takes Lily Briscoe from the pages of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and tells her story outside the confines of Woolf’s novel…” It is an honour to introduce you to Maggie Humm.

Maggie Humm is an international Woolf scholar, she is the author/editor of fourteen books, the last three of which focused on Woolf and the arts. Talland House was shortlisted for the Impress and Fresher Fiction prizes in 2017 (as Who Killed Mrs. Ramsay?) and the Retreat West and Eyelands prizes in 2018.

Jessie: Tell me more about Talland House.

“Maggie Humm has brilliantly filled in the edges beyond Woolf’s canvas…” Lauren Elkin

Maggie: Talland House re-imagines Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse from the point of view of Lily Briscoe the artist character. Set between 1900 and 1919 in picturesque Cornwall and war-blasted London, the novel tells Lily’s emotional journey in becoming a professional artist: her love-life, mourning her dead mother, as a suffragette, nurse and solving the mystery of Mrs. Ramsay’s death. The novel contains a prequel to To the Lighthouse and many fictions of Woolf’s life, including her family, the artists and friends she knew.

Jessie: What was the initial inspiration for the novel?

Virginia Woolf’s wonderful, quasi-autobiographical To the Lighthouse. I first read it as an adolescent after the death of my mother and fell in love with the mother-figure Mrs. Ramsay. Only years later did I discover that Woolf’s mother Julia Stephen was 49 when she died and Virginia 13 – the exact ages of my mother and me when my mother died. There’s something so extraordinarily moving about mothering in To the Lighthouse. In the novel Mrs. Ramsay dies suddenly and in parentheses (apologies to those who haven’t read the book!). The death is unexplained – the most surprising death in 20th century literature. I knew I had to write a novel discovering how Mrs. Ramsay died!

Jessie: How long have you been working on the book? Did it involve any special research?

Years! I took a UEA/Guardian diploma in creative writing followed by nine months of mentoring with The Literary Consultancy and much revision.

The research was huge but so enjoyable. As a Woolf scholar (my last three books focus on Woolf and the arts) I’d read all Woolf’s writings and writings by her family and friends. For Talland House I read Cornish newspapers for the times Lily is in St. Ives for weather, incidents, and atmosphere. I loved being in the airy, light map room at the top of the British Library looking at old photos of St. Ives for housing types, street scenes. I read artists’ memoirs, art journals of the turn of the twentieth century for a sense of artists’ lives and studios. I read everything on-line about World War I in London and how it felt to be there, for example, when the Germans suddenly switched from Zeppelins to Gotha bombers in 1917. London and St. Ives almost became characters in Talland House. I googled about music halls, other leisure pursuits, clothes, transport, and the accurate names of buildings and visited all Lily’s places. Lily gradually took over my life, my feelings, even my physical characteristics. She’s always early for appointments, she’s an only child with a dead mother, and her fingers are the shape of mine. Sometimes I wondered if I existed outside the novel!

Jessie: I am intrigued and want to delve into your writing. Please present some extracts from the novel so that will transport us to the settings in Cornwall.

Talland House

“Talland House…a kind of home, a place where she’d always wanted to return, and she’d missed it with the sadness of missing an old friend, a real person.”

“Lily glanced up at the house. Over the years, Talland House had come to mean more and more to her, a kind of home, a place where she’d always wanted to return, and she’d missed it with the sadness of missing an old friend, a real person. There was a special spot—the steps from the drawing room into the garden where Mrs. Ramsay liked to sit—at a specific moment of the day—early evening when the low sunlight caught the bright escallonia hedge—and it looked magnificent.”

St Ives

“Here no one knew her, here there were no family responsibilities, here she could be herself or whatever herself would become.”

“Lily had a glorious view of St Ives’s harbour, the seagulls twisting iridescent in the sun, a lighthouse seemingly close enough to touch. The weeks ahead spread out before her like a freshly washed sheet. Here no one knew her, here there were no family responsibilities, here she could be herself or whatever herself would become.”

Beach and Godrevy

“The beach began to empty as families took their children home for tea, and Lily rested on the top bar of the promenade railings looking out over the glare of the sea at Godrevy Lighthouse, hearing distant cries, the pat-pat of sails flapping against the rigging, the waves lapping. Now she felt the whole of the past could be present, as if her childhood days inched forward as slowly as the tortoise in the garden at home.

Godrevy Lighthouse

“It was pure joy to be with Mrs. Ramsay, lit by gleams from Godrevy…”

“It was pure joy to be with Mrs. Ramsay, lit by gleams from Godrevy, the conversation from the dining room too faint to understand. Mrs. Ramsay’s face seemed atop a statue, marble and firm. She looked so commanding suddenly, and Lily felt the rich essence of female connection, a fervent intensity because they were both women and Mrs. Ramsay was a mother. She gave Talland House a point of view, a sense of life, of its odd but necessary capacity.”

“Maggie Humm has brilliantly filled in the edges beyond Woolf’s canvas; she has a deep, awe-inspiring understanding of the role of the visual in Woolf’s work, and here she reveals that she also has a novelist’s gift to create something new, that has its own imaginative life, from that understanding.”

-Lauren Elkin, author of the award-winning Flaneuse

Find out more about Maggie Humm and her writing at:
http://www.maggiehumm.net/

 

Please see all my author interviews at My Guests and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A copy of my novel is available here.

Kitty Wilson’s Christmas Wishes in Cornwall

Take a peek at Kitty’s book in her handbag.

Kitty Wilson is author of the bestselling Cornish Village Series.  How can anyone resist a visit to Cornwall at the most magical time of year?  Her novels are celebrated as the ‘perfect escapist read’ by her dedicated readers.  I have invited Kitty to tell you more about her Christmas novel.

Hello everyone,

I am delighted to present the fourth in The Cornish Village School series, Christmas Wishes. This series of romantic comedies centre around a primary school in the fictional village of Penmenna with each story featuring a member of staff and involving the whole community. This is the first Christmas-themed one and tells the tale of Alice, a teaching assistant in class four, and Dan who moved to Penmenna to be its vicar a couple of years ago. Alice and Dan are firm friends with a penchant for getting into mischief but when Dan’s grandmother, Annie, moves into The Vicarage with him she is determined to push the two of them together.

I wanted to choose an extract for you that both summed up the Christmassy nature of this book, the sense of community and the romance between Alice and Dan so I hope this short piece does that.

I have really enjoyed writing Christmas Wishes, the antics of Annie and her new best friend Ethel, make me giggle every time I read them and I hope they raise a smile for other readers too. I am so fond of Alice and Dan, both have had very different upbringings yet carry the same values and hopes for their future, I think the two of them are perfectly matched.

All love, Kitty

Meet the lovely Kitty Wilson

Here is the extract:

One minute Alice had been sipping Ethel’s mulled wine, giggling at the memories of last year as she cast her eyes over the church they were all in. A church that smelt strongly of Christmas with mulled wine spices mixing with the scent of pine from all the greenery. Ethel’s brew packed such a serious punch that it had had Bill Meacher attempting to Elvis dance down the aisle last year – very definitely ‘All Shook Up’ – as he chased Mrs Talbot and promised her the moon if she would consider his hand in marriage. Luckily Mrs Talbot was a Very Sensible Woman who cordially informed him that it would take a bit more than a gyrating pelvis to persuade her to give up her hard-won independence. Although if he was available for the evening and promised to be silent then a one-off arrangement may be possible.

The next minute everyone had left, she was alone with Dan and needed to take a gulp as she realised what he had just said to her. At least what she thought she had heard him say. She asked him to repeat it, just so she could be sure.

Jessie: Your Christmas novel sounds as if it is full of Christmas sparkle and delicious humour.  I can’t wait to step inside your world.  What did the reviewers think of your Christmas Wishes?

Kitty:  The reviews warm my heart and it’s great to connect with the readers.  It is lovely when readers connect with the characters.  Here are a couple of reviews that capture the essence of the feedback.

‘Full of romance, letting go of the past to move forward and plenty to do with Christmas and children. It’s a heartwarming read and has great characters and just a brilliant read and we’ll worth more than five stars.’ (Nicola – Amazon reviewer)

‘Kitty Wilson continues to please with warm tales of the people that make up the little village school in Penmenna. I will be sad when I come to the end of the series as I have become so attached to the characters in these books. Easy to get absorbed in they are easy cosy reading.’(Lorna Vickers – Amazon reviewer).

It’s the most wonderful time of the year in Penmenna…

‘The magic of Christmas shines through the pages, and I loved everything about this one – it’s an amazing addition to a superb series and Kitty Wilson has done a first-class job. A joy to read and fully deserving of every one of the five shiny stars I’m more than happy to give it. Highly recommended!’  Grace J Reviewer Lady

‘Loved this book. Great characters, easy read, uplifting, funny, romantic and charming… the perfect escapist read.’ Beanie L.

Jessie:  You must be so proud of the positive responses to your novel.  It is wonderful the way the readers connect with the characters.  How did you feel when you had finished writing your book, and did you miss any of the characters? 

I loved writing this book but part of the joy of writing a series is that the characters remain the same throughout, it’s only the level of focus upon them that changes. This makes it so much easier as I don’t have to say goodbye to them yet. I am writing the fifth book now and both Dan and Alice will certainly pop back up. The downside is that when the series does finish I am going to be slightly heartbroken. I have spent almost every day over the last few years in Penmenna with these characters so I suspect there may be a big Cornish Village School shaped hole in my future. I shall just have to come up with characters that I love even more in my next books.

Kitty Wilson lived in Cornwall for twenty-five years having been dragged there, against her will, as a stroppy teen. She is now remarkably grateful to her parents for their foresight and wisdom – and these days spends her time writing romantic comedies with heroines who speak their mind.

I’ve heard very positive comments about Kitty’s Cornish Village series.  Indeed, a blogger explains:
‘I have read a few books by this author now and one thing I will say is that she never disappoints. She produces well planned out stories that leave you feeling warm and cosy inside and that was exactly how this heart-warming book made me feel – and I loved it!’ Donna’s Book Blog.

More about Christmas Wishes

It’s the most wonderful time of the year in Penmenna…

Teaching assistant Alice has sworn off men, which is fine because with Christmas coming she’s super busy organising the school Nativity. This should be a blast with the help of close friend and village vicar, Dan – if she can ignore those more-than-just-a-friend feelings she’s developed for him…

Dan is happy to help Alice – his secret crush – but not only is his beloved Granny Annie about to be made homeless, the church choir has disintegrated and he’s battling some dark demons from his past.

With meddling grannies and PTA wars thrown in the mix, can Alice and Dan overcome their past hurts to move forward? Will they be spending Christmas together as friends… or something more?

A festive feel-good romance perfect for fans of Tilly Tennant and Holly Martin.

Kitty’s contact details and book links

I love hearing from readers so do please come and say hello on either twitter or facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/kitty.wilson.1610
https://twitter.com/KittyWilson23

All the book links for the series can be found on Amazon.

And for other retailers, here are the links to buy Christmas Wishes.
Kobo                http://bit.ly/2lDXCn6
iBooks              https://apple.co/2kAWqk6
GooglePlay      http://bit.ly/2lIbTzm

 

Please see all my extracts and excepts at Book Extracts and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A copy of my novel is available here.