Blurb.
Nestled in the Cornish village of Cloudsea, sits Sea Cottage – the perfect place for some Christmas magic …
At last Ivy is looking forward to Christmas. She and her husband Stuart have moved to their perfect little cottage by the sea – a haven alongside the rugged cliffs that look out to the Atlantic Ocean. She’s pregnant with their much-longed for first baby and for the first time, since the death of her beloved mother, Ivy feels like things are going to be alright.
But there is trouble ahead. It soon emerges that Stuart has been keeping secrets from Ivy, and suddenly she misses her mum more than ever.
When Ivy stumbles across a letter from her mother hidden in an old writing desk, secrets from the past come hurtling into the present. But could her mother’s words help Ivy in her time of need? Ivy is about to discover that the future is full of unexpected surprises and Christmas at Sea Cottage promises to be one to remember.
What does TWG think?
Having fallen in love with Lily’s previous book; The Summer Escape, I had extremely high hopes for ‘A Cornish Christmas’. I just couldn’t wait to see where it was going to take my imagination. When the story begins, it feels as though you’re walking into a story half way through, there is no gradual build up to each character or their lives as they’re right there, waiting for you to find out more about them. What a way to start a book, it pulled me in straight away and the book didn’t leave my hands until I had finished it. I just couldn’t put it down, something special had me hooked, but at that moment, I couldn’t quite place what it was.
‘A Cornish Christmas’ follows the lives of Ivy (a children’s book illustrator) and Stuart (mr jam man). After jumping many, many hurdles, Ivy is finally pregnant. The thing is, when you’re pregnant, the only person you really want…is your mum. Ivy’s mum passed away a few years prior, and she is now getting round to looking through her mum’s old desk. Ivy stumbles across a little something that unearths a lot of questions, some that may be left unanswered.
At first when I met Ivy and Stuart, I thought that their life would be straight forward. After all, their relationship is cosy, I didn’t want to think that the storyline would go any other way except happiness! Such wonderfully written characters. Further into the story, a little Christmas magic begins to happen, and oh my goodness me!!! I could not fathom exactly what was happening. I was in shock, my arms were covered in goose bumps, and I had to work out how to prop my kindle up as one hand was covering my mouth. Beautiful, just…beautiful. Whether you believe in a bit of magic or not, I don’t think it matters as the way Lily wrote the Christmas magic into the storyline, will have anyone and everyone believing it. I did.
Unfortunately, there is one character that made me think ‘oh mistletoe!!’, quite a few times in my head. There is nothing worse than an interfering person, but, after a few stern words with Rudolph, I had to grit my teeth and just go with the snow…sorry…flow. Ahem.
The Christmas magic situation does pop up multiple times with the storyline and as the book went on, the more powerful the magic became. I’m sure you know where I am going with this now, yes? Yes, I sobbed my heart out; not in a devastatingly sad way, but in a ‘that melted all the ice around my heart’ type of way. The emotion that poured from the book was unbelievable, so much feeling and heartache in so few words, yet the story became an intense and powerful work of art.
When it comes to Christmas, everyone associates it with magic and cosiness. ‘A Cornish Christmas’ is both of those. Not only does the book contain heartache, tragedy and jam, it oozes love, warmth and magic. I cannot fault Lily’s novel at all, the whole thing from start to finish was absolutely magnificent. I knew that Lily was a fantastic author, but after reading this, wow, I am in awe.
Inspiring, emotional and completely magical; if I could have ‘A Cornish Christmas’ under my Christmas this year, I will be one very happy lady. Another fantastic book from Lily Graham, ‘A Cornish Christmas’ is one of my favourite books of all time. Just, wow.
Thank you to Bookouture and Netgalley – I received a complimentary copy in return for my honest opinion.
‘A Cornish Christmas’ by Lily Graham, published by Bookouture, is available to buy 30th September from Amazon UK
The Writing Garnet 