Rachel Hore on Cornwall
Cornish authors revealing their love of Britain’s most romantic corner.
What makes an author Cornish? Do they have to live here, do they have to have a pedigree that goes back many grandparents, or can they simply write about Cornwall with love in their heart? I think the last option works well for me.
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 very talented Rachel Hore.
Rachel Hore
Rachel HoreI worked as an editor for HarperCollins in London for years before moving to Norwich with my family and taking up a post teaching Publishing at the University of East Anglia. I must have been inspired by the Norfolk landscape because it wasn’t long before I started to write. My first novel, THE DREAM HOUSE, was set in London and Suffolk, but my second, THE MEMORY GARDEN, and my fifth, A GATHERING STORM, have Cornish settings. A GATHERING STORM has just been reissued with a brilliant new cover that evokes Cornwall at its wildest and most romantic.
What’s your connection to Cornwall?
I’m half Cornish – my father comes from an old Cornish family. My ancestors farmed land near St Austell until after the First World War. We spent many holidays in Cornwall when I was a child, particularly in Truro and Falmouth where my grandmother and cousins lived, and I have often been back to the county as an adult.
What is your first Cornish memory?
Definitely eating lashings of gorgeous Cornish cream for the first time – I thought it the food of the gods and still do!
I’m not even going to ask you if you are #jamfirst but what’s your favourite Cornish treat?
My mother used to make us Cornish pasties with the recipe that her mother-in-law gave her. I’ve never tasted any so special as those.
North coast or south coast?
I know the south coast better and particularly love Fowey, Kynance Cove, the Roseland and Porthcurno. And the stretch of coast from St Michael’s Mount round to Mousehole and Lamorna. The north coast has a wilder beauty. I find Zennor fascinating and who could not like St Ives out of season?
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?
I love sailing up the River Fowey and looking for kingfishers. No luck yet, though I did see one flying across the A38 last summer!
What do you think gives Cornwall such a different vibe?
Where do I start? The granite beneath one’s feet, the omni presence of ceaselessly wild sea, the clear quality of the light, the sense of a remote past all around.
What does a normal day look like to you?
In Cornwall I’m usually on holiday, which always involves swimming in the sea and walking along the cliffs. The more remote and deserted the better!
What is your favourite book set in Cornwall?
I love Helen Dunmore’s ZENNOR IN DARKNESS in which she includes a scene of walking along the cliffs in darkness. It sends shivers down my spine.
What Cornish fact do you wish was better known?
Just how impoverished parts of the county are.
Thank you Rachel!
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LOVE CHILD comes a gripping story of family secrets, all-consuming love and the chaos of war.
2011. When Lucy’s troubled father Tom passes away, she travels to Cornwall to visit his childhood home – the once-beautiful Carlyon Manor. Before he died, Tom had been researching an uncle she never knew he had. Determined to find out why, Lucy tracks down Beatrice Ashton, a local woman who seems to know more than she lets on, and has an extraordinary story to tell . . .
1935. Growing up in Cornwall, Beatrice plays with the children of Carlyon Manor – especially pretty, blonde Angelina Wincanton. Then, one summer at the age of fifteen, she falls in love with a young visitor to the town: Rafe, whom she rescues from a storm-tossed sea.
On the surface, her life seems idyllic. But the dark clouds of war are gathering, and nobody, not even the Wincantons, will be left untouched.
A Gathering Storm is a powerful tale of courage and betrayal, spanning from Cornwall to London and Occupied France, in which friendship and love are tested, and the consequences span generations.
Praise for Rachel Hore’s novels:
‘Compelling, engrossing and moving’ SANTA MONTEFIORE
‘Simply stunning . . . I savoured every moment’ DINAH JEFFERIES
‘A story that stirs the deepest emotions’WOMAN & HOME
‘An emotive and thought-provoking read’ ROSANNA LEY
‘Hore tackles difficult subjects with a clever, light touch and a sunny positivity. Her women are brave and good and you desperately want them to win’ DAILY MAIL
‘A novel thatstirs the deepest emotions’ WOMAN
‘An elegiac tale of wartime love and secrets’ TELEGRAPH
‘A tender and thoughtful tale’ SUNDAY MIRROR
Find out more about Rachels’s other titles below. They are all available in Hurley Books or available online.
A Gathering Storm
https://amzn.to/33IFaxb
The Memory Garden
https://amzn.to/36Pr2El
Rachel has also written nine other wonderful stories. Her new one, A BEAUTIFUL SPY, is published in hardback in February 2021.
And track her down online
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachel.hore
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rachelhore
Website: https://rachelhore.co.uk/
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.
- An American who passed The Test! Find out more…
- 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
