Reading Cornwall

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A little while ago I declared my intention of reading at least one book about my Cornish homeland each month. Maybe one day it will turn into a challenge or a blog of its own. But for now othing official, just wonderful books!

I have to start with the wonderful Daphne Du Maurier. Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, Jamaica Inn, The House on the Strand, Frenchman’s Creek and The Loving Spirit all have Cornish settings. And of course I have to mention Vanishing Cornwall, which has never gone out of print. Did you know that her sister Angela Du Maurier wrote too? Her memoir It’s Only The Sister and her novel Treveryan are still in print courtesy of local publisher Truran Books. They have a wide ranging catalogue of fiction and non fiction and it is well worth browsing. And Daphne Du Maurier isn’t the only Virago author with a Cornish connection. Mary Renault‘s The Friendly Young Ladies opens in Falmouth. F Tennyson Jesse had strong ties with Newlyn – and surely Moonraker was inspired by Treasure Island, which opens in Penzance.

Treasure Island brings me on to children’s books. Over Sea, Under Stone and Greenwich by Susan Cooper both have Cornish settings. Chris Priestley‘s Tales of Terror from the Black Ship are related on a Cornish clifftop. The Mousehole Cat by Antonia Barber is utterly charming. And Chris Higgins is a popular contemporary local writer.

And now a list of five very different twentieth century Cornish writers, all with a substantial body of work and worthy of further investigation: Arthur Quiller-Couch, Denys Val Baker, Crosbie Garstin, Derek Tangye and the great A L Rowse.

We have crime of course. W J Burley‘s Wycliffe series was very successful and was even televised some years ago. And here are two more authors of crime series set in west Cornwall that I have heard great things about: Janie Bolitho and Debby Fowler. Jessica Mann has a home in Cornwall and has set at least one book here – A Private Enquiry. Nicola Upson sent a fictionalised Josephine Tey down to Cornwall in her second novels, Angel With Two Faces. And Sarah Challis has Daphne Du Maurier solving Murder on the Cliffs. P D James sent Adam Dalgliesh to Cornwall in The Lighthouse. And Agatha Christie sent Hercule Poirot for Peril at End House. Elizabeth George‘s Inspector Lynley has a Cornish home. It appears briefly in a couple of books and Cornwall comes to the fore in Careless in Red.

There are many art books that can take you to Cornwall. Books about the St Ives School – Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth come to mind. And the Newlyn School – Stanhope Forbes and Laura Knight – I have Laura Knight’s two volumes of autobiography lined up. Francesca Kay‘s Orange New Writers Award winning An Equal Stillness passes through Cornwall. So does Jonathan Smith‘s Summer in February – a fictionalised portrait of royal Academy president Sir Alfred Munnings. Charles Lee was a contemporary of the Newlyn School artists. I don’t know too much about hime but a small collection of short stories has been reissued and looks lovely.

There are of course many family sagas. Winston Graham‘s Poldark novels are probably the most famous. Rosamunde Pilcher used Cornish settings for The Shell Seekers, Coming Home and Winter Solstice. I’ve a feeling that one or two of her earlier books that were reissued when she found success late in life were set here too. Ben Woolfenden‘s The Ruins of Time is very firmly set in West Cornwall. Many of E V Thompson‘s works have Cornish settings.

Mary Wesley spent the war years in Cornwall and uses it as a setting in many of her books – most notably The Camomile Lawn.

And lots of historical romance. There’s Susan Howatch‘s blockbuster Penmarric, Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt, Crossed Bones and The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson. And, coming a little more up to date Sarah MacDonald has set both Another Life and Come Away With Me in Cornwall. Santa Montefiore uses Cornish Settings in several of her books too.

Of course many of the tales of King Arthur have Cornish roots. And Tristan and Iseult is our own Cornish legend. I particularly like Diana L Paxson‘s retelling in The White Raven.

Or you want great contemporary writing? There’s Zennor in Darkness by Helen Dunmore, Notes on an Exhibition by Patrick Gale, Somewhere More Simple by Marion Molteno.  The Haunt by A L Barker is set in a Cornish hotel.

There are many wonderful memoirs of Cornwall. Last year brought The Great Western Beach by Emma Smith and Terence Frisbee‘s recollections of life as an evacuee in Kisses on a Postcard . Molly Hughes writes of her mother’s life in Cornwall in The Vyvians. Cornish teacher Anne Treneer has written three volumes of autobiography. Wilkie Collins‘ Rambles Beyond Railways is quite wonderful, and he set his novel the Dead Secret in Cornwall too. And there’s Lindsay Bareham‘s The Fish Course – part recipe book, part memoir of family holidays in Mousehole.

And much more wonderful non-fiction. Letters to Lydia by Barbara Eaton tells of a wonderful 19th century correspondence. Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell: Remembering St Ives is a title that doesn’t need too much explanation. The autors are Marion Dell and Marion Whybrow. The latter is also the author of a novel - Gorsemoor Cottage. To Brave Every Danger by Judith Cook tells the story of Mary Bryant of Foy. It’s an extraordinary tale that has been fictionalised and televised too.

My next two Cornish read will be A Year at Polverras by Sylvia Ouston, which looks as if it might be Persephone-ish, and Sarah Strick by Randle Hurley - tales of everyday folk set in my own home town.

There’s much more out there, but that’s it for now. Suggestions, opinons and recommendations are very welcome!