Scuttler's Cove Quotes

“For what other cure is there for a broken heart than to withdraw from the world?”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“But the old ways…’ said Bligh. Taran smiled. ‘This is an older way. A way that things once were, and should always have been.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“It was to my sweet Avallen, lord of the land, god of the orchard, that they directed their offerings. Because he was a man, in their eyes, and that meant they could understand his hungers, and lusts, and they could give him what they believed he desired. They remade him in their image, which is what men do with their gods. All the better to understand them, and thus own and control them.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“They took my love away from me, because we dared to not give them the bounty they had become used to. They did not understand, or chose not to understand, that to keep giving, the land and the sea must be allowed to renew, to lie fallow for a time, to replenish. They just wanted more and more, and gave no thought to where it might come from, or what effect their hungers might have.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“My maister Avallen, neb a les dhe’n aval dy ha diwetda genevys dh’y gila! Lord Avallen, who sleeps beneath the apple tree, it is time for you to awaken!”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“The land and the sea are opposites, and yet the two halves of which the world is made, and so it was for Avallen and Endellion. When the thunder and lightning rumbled around the bay men would nod sagely and say that Avallen and Endellion were a-bed, their love ferocious and pure. When the rains fed the crops in the field, they would say that Endellion sent the gift of water to her love, and when the fish rose from the depths to be hypnotised by the full moon, and fall easily into fishermen’s nets, they would say that Avallen had coaxed her to provide.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Long ago, men respected the land and the sea in equal measure, and it was a more harmonious time. The world was full of gods, the gods of wild rivers and bleak moors, and in the land dwelt the god of the orchard, Avallen, who lived beneath a lone apple tree on a wood-ringed hill that came to bear his name, Nans-Avallen. On the beach below Nans-Avallen the waves crashed onto the shore, ebbing and flowing when called by the moon, and in those waves lived Endellion, the lady of the sea. Men paid fealty to both Avallen and Endellion, and she filled their nets with fish while he caused their crops to grow and their livestock to become fat.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Jen said, ‘Avallen?’ ‘Avallen is the god of the orchard, the spirit of the land,’ said Taran. ‘He sleeps beneath the apple tree, and every generation or so he awakens. And then we must serve him, and in return he brings prosperity to Scuttler’s Cove.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“As she gazed up at it from her window, she remembered something she’d read years and years ago, that if you slept with the moon shining on you it was a sure way to go mad.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Aye, the hubris he might have once proudly worn himself, like a badge of honour. Back when he believed he could do anything, and nobody could stop him. Back in the days when, if he saw something he wanted, he took it, and the devil take anyone who tried to stop him. The devil take anyone who tried to stop him, he thought, as he stood as near to the edge of Nans-Avallen as he dared, gazing down on the town below, lit up with life. That was him, once, abandoned and free and raising a glass to anyone and everyone. But then that night happened, and it was, in fact, him who the devil took.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“the warm sea breeze playing over her, the grass damp beneath her feet. She saw clouds scudding across the moon and the white crests of waves out on the dark sea. Somewhere in the far-off distance a whale sang, and night-birds chattered, and the trees whispered.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Those apples are amazing,’ said Bobby casually. ‘The things they can let you do.’ Taran felt his legs turn to jelly. ‘Nans-Avallen apples? You’ve been eating them? Bobby. No. You’re lying.’ Bobby flexed his bicep. ‘I feel incredible. Why has nobody ever eaten them before?’ ‘Because they’re his apples, you fucking idiot,’ hissed Taran. ‘They contain his essence. And now, so do you.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“It’s why we have the Fish Festival, in part,’ said Janet. ‘The story goes that Avallen was the lord of the orchard, and Endellion the lady of the sea. They were in love, but Avallen spurned her. She was furious and vowed to destroy Scuttler’s Cove, which was the domain of Avallen, and which he brought prosperity to. The Fish Festival every year is held to appease Endellion and to thank her for the bounty of the sea. In olden times everyone would have an Eye of Avallen in their window during the Festival, to ward off the vengeance of Endellion.’ ‘So why paint it on one of the incomer’s doors? In blood?’ wondered Mary. ‘Why try to scare them off with that?’ ‘Maybe it’s not a threat,’ said Janet. ‘Maybe it’s a warning.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Avallen, lord of the vale, who dwells beneath the apple tree, we have seen your sign. The seed has been planted and the flower will bloom, just as your fruit grows on the bough. As is the tradition of our people, to ensure the future vitality of our town, we bring to you the offering that you demand.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“And once he believed, once he had seen for himself that his daddy was not lying, nor raving with illness, he was approached by Reverend Bligh and Lizzie Moon and inducted into the other life of Scuttler’s Cove, and the skin of what he had always considered normal life was peeled back, and he was shown the secrets and horrors that swarmed beneath.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“She’s named for a saint, so some say, but that’s not the case. The saint was named for her, because she’s older than the saints, older than the people, older than the land, for did not the seas come first when the world was created…? And when man fails to understand something, or wishes it to not exist, he takes its name and gives that name to some other thing, something he has created, something he can manage and control and which is not as fearsome as the thing whose name he has stolen. But she cannot be managed, nor controlled, she can only be honoured,”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“No, you shouldn’t kill spiders,’ she said softly. ‘Gizo wouldn’t like it.’ Maggie sipped at her latte then said, ‘Gizo? Was he the landlord of the pub last night?’ ‘That was Clemmo,’ said Jen. She looked at Adaku. ‘Who is Gizo?’ ‘Trickster spider god,’ said Adaku, still staring at the place on the worktop where the spider had been squished. Jen noticed she was scratching idly at her wrist again. Speaking almost absently, Adaku said, ‘Once, long ago in my country, there was a very bad drought and a long summer and the worst famine anyone could remember. Everyone was hungry, even the gods. Even Gizo. But Gizo had a plan.’ Maggie opened her mouth to say something but then seemed to think better of it, and listened. Adaku went on, ‘Gizo went to the elephant, and said many flattering things to him, that he was the master of all the land. And that the hippopotamus, who was the master of all the waters, deferred to the elephant and wished to give him a gift. He would give a horse to the elephant, but the elephant had to give a gift to the hippopotamus in return.’ Jen could almost see the cogs turning in Maggie’s mind, wondering what use an elephant had for a horse, but the other woman kept silent. Adaku said, ‘The elephant agreed to give a hundred baskets of grain to the hippopotamus, in thanks for the kind gift that was forthcoming. ‘Then Gizo went to the hippopotamus, and said the elephant wished to give a gift of a fine horse in deference to hippopotamus’s mastery of the water, but would like a gift of a hundred baskets of fish in return. Of course, neither the grain nor the fish reached their intended recipients. And Gizo’s belly was full while everyone else starved.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“The high priestess and the sacrificial victim. Both of them in the same place, probably for the first time. Taran knew, of course, who one was, but not yet the other. And neither of the women concerned had any idea at all. Not yet, at any rate.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“The Fish Festival was one of those things you got all over Cornwall, like the ’Obby ’Oss festival in Padstow, its origins lost in the mists of time, something fun but also slightly creepy. There was a procession and an offering to the sea and then everyone got very, very drunk. It attracted a few tourists, but was really something for the locals.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Lizzie had cursed them all, then wept, and hugged her baby. She hadn’t wanted that for Merrin, no mother would. But in the end, she had accepted it. Lizzie Moon was who she was, and now so was Merrin. A Daughter of the Soil, her path set.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Taran laughed. ‘No. It’s Endellion.’ ‘Endellion?’ ‘The Lady of the Sea,’ said Taran.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“We need a TV,’ he’d said as they sized up the house. ‘What about this 98-inch screen?’ ‘We won’t be watching TV,’ said Jen happily. ‘We’ll be walking along the cliffs and having picnics on the beach and drinking in the Star and Anchor and surfing and—’ ‘What about when it rains, though?’ ‘Then we’ll sit in front of the log burner and make love and watch storms rolling in from the sea,’ said Jen. ‘The 98-inch,’ Justin had said firmly, hitting the buy button.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“ANSERGHEK KERNOW said the graffiti, the letters running with still-wet paint. ‘Independent Cornwall,’ said a voice behind her.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Single to Truro,’ he announced unnecessarily. He had a West Country accent. The carriage rocked in the darkness, the lights above her buzzing. ‘Holiday, is it?’ ‘No,’ said Merrin. ‘I’ve just been in London too long.’ ‘Five minutes is too long in London, if you ask me.’ He didn’t make to move on. ‘Still, we all have our sacrifices to make.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“They are the gods of our wondrous sun-rises and sunsets. The sea; our sea, gives up to us her gods and goddesses … the gods of our own wild storms; the gods of our bleak moors, of our hills and dales, of our fertile fields; the gods of our bubbling springs, of our babbling brooks and placid rivers; the gods of rowan and the British oak.’ Cornwall: The Land of the Gods, T.F.G. Dexter (1932)”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“There was something about the idea of the whole sea being one big, flowing mass, and so full of life. Life which, if you didn’t want to eat it, probably wanted to eat you.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove

“Cornish dialect word for ants.”
― David Barnett, Scuttler's Cove