A CORNISH AFFAIR by LIZ FENWICK

A CORNISH AFFAIR

BY LIZ FENWICK

THE BLURB:-

When the pressure of her forthcoming marriage becomes too much, Jude bolts from the church, leaving a good man at the altar, her mother in a fury, and the guests with gossip aplenty.

Guilty and ashamed, Jude flees to Pengarrock, a crumbling cliff-top mansion in Cornwall, where she takes a job cataloguing the extensive library. The house is a welcome escape, full of history and secrets... but Pengarrock is not beloved by everyone. As Jude falls under the spell of the house, she learns of a family riddle stemming from a terrible tragedy centuries before. But is time running out for the house- and for Jude?

THE REALITY:-

This was rather enjoyable but, even though I've finished it, I want to go over the story again just to clarify a few points.

Written in the first person, the writing could be accused of being a bit too colloquial (or too American? That is, after all, where the author hails from, and their speech pattern is different to ours). It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something I picked up upon. I also found that too many things either weren't described properly (why is JC called JC, for example? What does the abbreviation of his name/ names stand for?) or were left hanging. We never really did find out what happened to Clarissa- I don't recall a body being found, but it was assumed that she'd died in a landslide. I do realise, however, that the fault may lie with me. I haven't been able to read this book quickly, as I've had too much on (what with working on my MA assignments) so maybe I'd just forgotten parts. All in all, the writing reminded me of Rachel Hore- sometimes her very good stories have parts which are a bit vague or are left slightly unfinished. Or maybe I'm just someone who likes Is dotted and Ts crossed.

Having said that, I did enjoy this work. Set in Cornwall (which I visited- and loved- for the first time this year), the descriptions really evoked the image of the scenery. It was interesting how the characters evolved, especially Jude, her parents, their hidden secrets and her relationship with them.  I'm glad Jude came from a family where everything is not all sweetness and light, and hunky-dory.  I could relate to that and it gave the book realism. I did find, however, that some bits just didn't sit too well. Would Tristan really have walked into Jude's bedroom without knocking? This was before- spoiler alert- they became intimate.

This was a story which captured the historical sense of Pengarrock and which atmospherically held a lot of interest for me. I would certainly give other works by this author a go.

Footnote:- I did go back and flick through the novel.  And I did find a vague reference towards the end of the tale, where Jude searched the rocks and suspected that there had been a landslide at some point.  But no dates for this landslide were referred to.  A mystery has to have the elements added together throughout the novel and tied up.  This story was a little bit too loose with that point, and it's a shame.