Liz Fenwick on Cornwall
Cornish authors revealing their love of Britain’s most romantic corner.
Cornwall isn’t on the way to anywhere. If you’re here it’s because you wanted to be, or because you washed up here, carried on strange tides. Living on the edge of an island lend a different way of viewing the world. You can watch the rest of your country from the sidelines or you can look out to distant shores. No wonder Cornwall has so many great writers, what tales we have to tell.
I am delighted to bring you a series of interview with Cornish authors this autumn. All the authors have two things in common, they write gorgeous stories set in Cornwall and they love Cornwall. This has been such a fun thing to do and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Today’s interview is from the fabulous Liz Fenwick (the “w” is silent) who I have had the pleasure to get to know over the years. Liz always comes to our shop (Hurley Books) for each new book launch; not only is she great company but she also brings cake, and on my favourite occasion, soda bread.
Liz Fenwick
Liz FenwickAward winning author Liz Fenwick was born in Massachusetts and after ten international moves she’s back in the UK with her husband and two mad cats. She made her first trip to Cornwall in 1989 and bought her home there seven years later. She’s a bit of global nomad but her heart forever remains in Cornwall.
What’s your connection to Cornwall?
I’m lucky enough to live in Cornwall!!
What is your first Cornish memory?
June 1989. My then boyfriend took me to meet his parents…so I thought. It was the Cornwall test. If I hadn’t fallen in love with Cornwall then I wouldn’t be 29 years married. Little did I know on the glorious June weekend with skies so blue and water so cold that Cornwall would become my muse.
I’m not even going to ask you if you are #jamfirst but what’s your favourite Cornish treat?
Gin…love so many Cornish gins but Tarquins, Curio, Holly’s, Tinkture and Monterey are current favourites.
North coast or south coast?
South…still dramatic but gentle too.
Care to share an image of Cornwall that you love?
People tend to forget how stunning Cornwall is, away from the beaches. Where is your favourite inland spot?
Godolphin Hill. Raw landscape shaped by man and nature, and a breath-taking view at the top.
What do you think gives Cornwall such a different vibe?
I think it’s the landscape, it’s magical and it permeates everything.
What does a normal day look like to you?
Sunlight streaming through the southeast facing bedroom window, a cat on my stomach, coffee in the garden and then retreat to the study. Write in my journal, maybe a writing exercise from a writing craft book, then diving into the work in process or curling up with a research book.
Just before lunch ideally, I’ll head for a ‘plot walk’ where I absorb the beauty and combat writer’s bottom. Depending on where I am in the writing process, after lunch I will write or do housework or read other people’s books! If I haven’t taken a ‘plot walk’ earlier then I’ll take one at five and return to one of the said gins above!
What is your favourite book set in Cornwall?
Torn…A Year of Marvellous Ways by Sarah Tinman or Not Forgetting the Whale by John Ironmonger or Frenchman’s Creek by du Maurier
What Cornish fact do you wish was better known?
I think it has to do with the landscape. Many visitors think how natural the landscape is when in fact so much is man made through industry from the earliest times.
Thank you Liz!
If you want to read more from Liz then dive into The Path to the Sea.
Sometimes going home is just the beginning…
‘Vivid and beautifully written, Liz Fenwick is a gifted storyteller’ Sarah Morgan, Sunday Times bestselling author
‘Atmospheric, emotional and full of mystery – an absolute pleasure from page one’ Veronica Henry, Sunday Times bestselling author
Boskenna, the beautiful, imposing house standing on the Cornish cliffs, means something different to each of the Trewin women.
For Joan, as a glamorous young wife in the 1960s, it was a paradise where she and her husband could entertain and escape a world where no one was quite what they seemed – a world that would ultimately cost their marriage and end in tragedy.
Diana, her daughter, still dreams of her childhood there – the endless blue skies and wide lawns, book-filled rooms and parties, the sound of the sea at the end of the coastal path – even though the family she adored was shattered there.
And for the youngest, broken-hearted Lottie, heading home in the August traffic, returning to Boskenna is a welcome escape from a life gone wrong in London, but will mean facing a past she’d hoped to forget.
As the three women gather in Boskenna for a final time, the secrets hidden within the beautiful old house will be revealed in a summer that will leave them changed for ever.
The Path to the Sea beautifully evokes the mystery and secrets of the Cornish coast, and will be loved by fans of Kate Morton and Rachel Hore.
Find out more about Liz’s other titles. They are all available in Hurley Books (sometimes we have signed editions) or available online.
The Cornish House
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/The-Cornish-House/14492290
A Cornish Affair
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/A-Cornish-Affair/15027439
A Cornish Stranger
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/A-Cornish-Stranger–A-page-turning-summer-read-full-of-mystery-and-romance/16537865
A Cornish Christmas Carol
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cornish-Christmas-Carol-Liz-Fenwick-ebook/dp/B01MYMPVMR
Under A Cornish Sky
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/Under-a-Cornish-Sky/17370344
The Returning Tide
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/The-Returning-Tide/20732452
One Cornish Summer
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/One-Cornish-Summer/22021298
The Path to the Sea
https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Liz-Fenwick/The-Path-to-the-Sea/22945806
And track her down online
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_fenwick/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liz.fenwick.author
Twitter: https://twitter.com/liz_fenwick
Website: www.Lizfenwick.com
If you have enjoyed this interview you’ll probably like these ones as well
- Discover her connection to the Lord of the Rings
- A Norfolk girl in love with Cornwall.
- Clotted cream and pasties? Sold!
- Discover all her other pen names!
And you might also enjoy my book Cornish Dreams in Cockleshell Cottage
Sitting alongside the beach and just up from the gently lapping waves, sat a perfect cottage. She had found where she was going to live. Her own little cockleshell cove.
Ever since the Byrne sisters – Ariana, Aster, Clem, Paddy and Nic – discovered they were heiresses to the vast Hiverton fortune, their lives have never been the same. No longer living in poverty in London, they now own an estate in Norfolk, a castle in Scotland and a picturesque village in Cornwall.
When sensitive Paddy, the baby of the family despite her successful career as a model, swaps the catwalks of Paris Fashion Week for the cobbled lanes of Tregisky on the beautiful Cornish coast, it’s time for her to stand on her own two feet.
Soon, she’s settled in her new home of Cockleshell Cottage overlooking the wild surf, the seals her closest companions.
And when she meets ex-soldier Hal, she’s instantly smitten. Funny, considerate, and not to mention drop dead gorgeous, he’s perfect in every way apart from one – he’s engaged. But after a misunderstanding brings the two together in ways they couldn’t have imagined, it seems like they might just change each other’s lives.
Will Paddy fall in love with more than just the glorious blue skies of Cornwall? Or are there storm clouds gathering ahead?
Escape to the Cornish coast this summer with this completely uplifting romcom – perfect for fans of Holly Martin, Phillipa Ashley and Milly Johnson.
Readers are falling in love with Cockleshell Cottage…
‘had such a delightful rom-com feel…loved every minute of reading this book. I highly recommend it.’ ☆☆☆☆☆ Reader Review
Liz Hurley as well as being the owner of this blog, runs a bookshop in Cornwall, right by the sea and writes books. You can buy them in her shop (of course), Waterstones and other outlets, as well as Amazon.
When she’s not reading, she’s writing and when she’s not writing, she’s walking. And when she’s not doing any of that she’s binging on box sets and sleeping.
This website is for her fictional works. Her Cornish non-fiction titles and walking guides can be found at https://www.cornishwalks.com
