Jane Bidder’s Top Three Books Set In Cornwall
To celebrate the paperback release of A Cornish Stranger on the 23rd of April and Under A Cornish Sky of the 7th of May I’ve asked several of my favourite authors to share their top three Cornish reads.
I met Jane Bidder through the Romantic Novelists’ Association and love her work. I was delighted when she said she would share her favourite Cornish books and have to admit to being just a little bit jealous of the possible connection to Frenchman’s Creek…
FRENCHMAN’S CREEK by Daphne Du Maurier. My great great grandfather was quite a famous portrait painter called John Hanson Walker whose patron was the artist Lord Frederick Leighton. Family legend has it that Hanson-Walker inspired Frenchman’s Creek. It happened like this. Artists often told their sitters stories while they worked in order to keep their subjects’ attention. My great great grandfather was painting the portrait of an aristocrat and, at the same time, telling him about a pirate forebear who had married a well-to-do Lady in the Isle of Wight. There is some truth in this although we suspect that Hanson-Walker, who was a great story-teller as well as painter, might have elaborated on this. In the corner of the room, watching her grandfather being painted, was a small girl, curled up on a chair. Her name? Daphne du Maurier…. There are indeed similarities in the tale….
THE SHELL-SEEKERS by Rosamunde Pilcher. In the nineties, before I was a published novelist, I came second in The Lady short story competition. Part of my prize was lunch at The Savoy with the judges: Arthur Hailey and Rosamunde Pilcher. I was over-awed by their company but was particularly drawn to Rosamunde Pilcher with her warm eyes. I’d always loved her books but after that lunch, I went home and began reading them all again. Now I live by the sea and often think of THE SHELL SEEKERS when I’m walking the dog on the beach.
CHILDREN’S HISTORY OF CORNWALL by Peggy Burns. I came across this when writing a book review column. It provides the answers to questions such as : When was the Cornish Rebellion. Where can you find Merlin’s Cave? Why is Cornwall’s flag black and white. Great fun for children and adults – and useful for research too.
My latest book THE WITNESS by Jane Bidder ( published by Accent Press in paperback £7.99) is about Alice, an unhappily-married middle aged woman who restores china but can’t mend her own broken heart. One day, she sees a couple doing something illegal in the park. She is the only witness. If she takes the stand in court, her own past will come spilling out and destroy the carefully-constructed life she has built for herself. But if she doesn’t, a young woman’s life will be at risk – the kind of woman that she used to be……Can Alice really allow that to happen?
THE WITNESS was inspired by a real-life story . It is set on the borders of Devon and Cornwall. It’s got several five star reviews on Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Witness-Jane-Bidder/dp/1783751371
https://www.facebook.com/JaneBidderAuthor?ref=hl
Hope you’ve enjoyed Jane’s selections. Please pop by tomorrow for Fanny Blake’s selection.
