Liz Fenwick

What a wonderful book! A Cornish Affair is a book that I felt right from the beginning that it would work for me. The opening is so amazing, Jude realizing on her own wedding day this is not what she wants. She has not had a word to say about the planning of the wedding and does she really want to marry John? So, when she sees her chance to escape is she off. What she will do now does not know, so she leaves Cape Cod for England where she and John should have moved after the wedding. But, she's now on her own. By a lucky chance, does she get a job at Pengarrock, a crumbling mansion in Cornwall. her work will be to cataloguing the library. But, life here is not that easy either...

A Cornish Affair is a charming book about finding oneself. To take a step out in the unknown and dare to follow one's heart. This is the first book I have read by Liz Fenwick and I will definitely read more of her. I loved reading about Cornwall and I really loved that the book also contained a mystery that Jude tries to solve. Now I look forward to reading The Cornish House.

Thanks to Norstedts for the review copy!… (mer)

What a wonderful book! It combines my love of romance, history, Cornwall, and genealogy into a delicious brew of a story. Theo buys a cottage on the Devon/Cornwall line after her divorce. It needs fixing up but she's up to the task. She discovers many fascinating links to her own family.
The story goes back and forth between the present time of Theo and 1914 when Lady Alice is sent in disgrace to the family home at Abbottswood because of her suffragist actions. Alice is a fascinating character, headstrong but determined not to live the life her family is forcing her into. There's nothing to do but fish but the young gillie Zach is handsome and willing to accommodate her.
Meanwhile, Theo is exploring her own links to the past as she settles into the cottage where Zach once lived. The family links can be confusing though it straightens out as the story goes on, but I confess I peeked at the author's website where there's a handy family tree.
I loved the descriptions of Devon and Cornwall. The author does a nice job of describing flora and fauna, weaving them into the story seamlessly. I definitely have to explore more of her catalog.… (mer)

This is the story of three generations of Cornish women living in their home at Boskenna. Joan, the grandmother, is dying so her daughter Diana and granddaughter Lottie have come home. Family secrets are explored in flashbacks to the 1960s when Joan was a glamorous socialite to her first husband, a diplomat posted in Moscow. Diana, a world-renown reporter, has questions about her father's death and wants answers before her mother passes away. Lottie adores her grandmother and wants to protect her while dealing with the current mess her life has become.
It's a lovely and interesting story. The descriptions of Cornwall, the sea, and the flowers, made me want to travel back there again. It was very easy to picture Boskenna on the cliffs over the beach. The characters are all intriguing each in their own way, and the story had some nice twists while leaving an open-ended future at the end. It's a very satisfying and enjoyable read.… (mer)

Renovating an old house.
Since moving to Devon, only 15 minutes from the Cornish border, I have been keenly reading books written about the area. I also lost a close relative to Alzheimer's Disease recently, so this book resonated on two counts.

I did have a bit of a problem initially, as the book moved from Hebe to Lucy and backwards and forwards in time. Eventually I went back to the beginning and noted down the name and title of each chapter and realised that Lucy was in 2016, while her aunt, Hebe, was in both 2015 and 2016. Once I'd sussed out that detail it all flowed perfectly.

Hebe is in her fifties, early to be suffering from dementia. She is already feeling guilty about secretly being with a man considerably younger than herself, but when she realised she was going downhill, she pulled away and retreated back to Cornwall. She takes on an historical house that she has always loved and sets about returning it to its former glory; a project she hopes to finish while she is still able. Lucy is much younger than her aunt, but she too has secrets. She has run from an affair with a married MP, followed, inevitably, by the press. She decides to hide away with her aunt for a while, out of sight.

They are both interesting characters and the house itself almost becomes a character too. Helwyn House of the novel is inspired by Godolphin House, owned by The National Trust and recently renovated. The house is 1 1/2 hours from me, right down in the southern end of Cornwall, but some day I hope to visit. I believe the author visited before it was opened to the public, so writing about renovating the house would have been perfect.

An enjoyable read with lots of atmosphere. This is my third Liz Fenwick book, and the best so far.… (mer)