Featured

‘A Cornish Winter’s Tale’ – Now available on Amazon!

On By Anna CarlyleIn My Books, News3 Comments

I’m excited to announce the publication of my first novel, A Cornish Winter’s Tale, now available on Amazon as an eBook and paperback edition.

This festive story tells the tale of Summer and Jonny, friends since childhood, who have grown up in the same Cornish village, sharing a bond created over their love of the sea and coastal adventures. Time and the realities of life have created struggles and long periods of separation, but they’ve never forgotten one another and have succeeded in finding their way back to each other when winter holiday visits have allowed. As Summer returns home for Christmas, she looks back over her life and reflects on mistakes made and opportunities missed. She’s back in Cornwall with a renewed determination to finally start living the life she really wants, and we’ll follow her and Jonny to discover if they’ll finally overcome the wounds of their past and find their moment.

This compelling romance blends lightness and laughter with moving episodes of heartbreak and drama. A Cornish Winter’s Tale tells Summer and Jonny’s story over the years, as they lose one another and then find one another again, always brought back together by a soul-deep, unbreakable connection that neither of them can ever entirely escape, even when they’re foolish enough to try.

Taking the self-publishing route is not for the faint-hearted and bringing the novel to this point has involved much sweat, swearing and many late nights. The book being successful would be great reward, and if you’re reading this, I hope you’ll investigate further on Amazon. You can also read the first chapter here on this site.

If you enjoy it and would like to read more from me, please be so kind as to leave me a review on Amazon, as that will really help the book reach a wider audience. You can follow this link to easily leave a review with just one click.

And, of course, please do tell your friends! Or, even better, treat them to a copy for Christmas. It’s the perfect festive read for lovers of romance, drama – and particularly, Cornwall.

If you enjoy my writing, please subscribe to my mailing list. Subscribers will be the first to hear about new releases and giveaways and will gain access to sneak peeks and bonus content! Subscribers will also have the chance to be amongst the first to read my latest books for free before they’ve even been published.

To the Lighthouse

On By Anna CarlyleIn Cornwall MattersLeave a comment

This is the second part of my recollections of my first encounter with Cornwall. You can read the first part here.

I turn to walk towards the lighthouse, calling to me from its rock amidst the bluest sea I have ever seen. Its distance strikes me as a treat rather than an inconvenience: more time to enjoy the beautiful journey along a path of pale, shifting sand snaking between the towans’ undulating coastal grasses.

Two scruffy traffic cones warn walkers away from subsiding ground, telling the tale of our ever-changing coastline, but they are quickly passed and the modern world slips away again. I push past thickets of wild carrot flowers amongst the grasses; gatherings of red clover; a very handsome six-spot burnet moth perched atop canary yellow Spathulate Fleawort; a fluffy bee clinging onto a burst of wind-blown, pink-tinged wild carrot as if for dear life. Because Cornwall doesn’t just give you sea, sand and sky; it also gives you an abundance of nature that lifts the spirits and calms the soul.

Continue reading “To the Lighthouse” →

Cornwall: Love at First Sight

On By Anna CarlyleIn Cornwall MattersLeave a comment

A five hour drive from London, luggage thrown into a hotel room, and I jump back in my car and head for the sea that has been beckoning to me increasingly insistently as I’ve traversed the rolling hills of the A30 and seen the promise of expansive blue sky to my right. Some baffling road layouts successfully negotiated, and I follow a road that becomes increasingly coastal. I pass a caravan park and glimpse sand dunes and my excitement kicks up a notch. For someone with a dedicated penchant for planning ahead when leaving the house, I have only a vague idea of where I’m going. But I come to a turn-off which clearly heads towards the sea, with a promising sign – “Gwithian Towans” – helpfully accompanied by the big “P” indicating parking.

Continue reading “Cornwall: Love at First Sight” →

Coming soon… Treresset: A Cornish Manor House

On By Anna CarlyleIn My Books2 Comments

Coming in the new year, Treresset: A Cornish Manor House, will be the first in the Treresset series.

Following the death of her aunt, Penelope Carys returns to Cornwall. Her mission: to rescue her family’s Elizabethan manor house from neglect and restore it to its former glory. But her reunion with the place of her birth will bring her far more than she had bargained for: love, mystery and even danger she could never have anticipated. Her new home could be the answer to her prayers, but can she rise to the challenge?

Set amidst the beauty of the Cornish countryside and its spectacular coastline, Treresset is the perfect read for lovers of Cornwall and uplifting romances alike.

Treresset: A Cornish Manor House is the first of in a series in which we meet the Carys clan, all Cornwall born and bred, but who have drifted away from the beautiful county of their birth. Gradually they return, to be embraced by the house and estate of their ancestors. But not everyone will be happy to see them back, and life will not be without its challenges.

Follow me on social media to be amongst the first to hear as soon as this title is released, and subscribe to my email list to receive a sneak peek at the first chapters prior to release.

On Writing: Trust the Process

On By Anna CarlyleIn On WritingLeave a comment

So, you get an idea for a novel or short story. What do you do with it? How do you transform your idea from that thought bubble in your head into something shapely and solid that can appear on the page?

I’m not quite sure where my ideas come from. They seem to pop into my head as if out of nowhere. But when they do, they’re usually no more than a morsel. The small kernel of an idea, with much nurturing to be done to make anything substantial of them.

The most effective thing I can do to grow that idea is to just start to write. Nowadays, this tends to be my fingers tapping away on a laptop keyboard, although previously it has been ink on paper, or even banging away at a typewriter. The very act of writing itself seems to engage a part of my brain simply ‘thinking’ does not do. Although I’ll admit that I’ve often wanted access to some kind of sci-fi gadget which I can plug into my brain to enable the thoughts and words contained therein to be transferred directly to Google Docs. (And I mean, it’s only a matter of time until that becomes a reality, right?)

Continue reading “On Writing: Trust the Process” →

Nature’s Moods: Autumn

On By Anna CarlyleIn Nature's Moods2 Comments

What a beautiful, moody season autumn is. Even under grey skies, golden and russet leaves can be beautiful. There’s something so melancholy about the shortening days and darker evenings, the squirrels scampering about gathering their winter stores to see them through until the arrival of spring. Warm jumpers and hats and gloves are beckoning and need to be located from where they were previously stored, sometimes carelessly, in excitement at the coming of summer. At least the waning year brings good reason to make hot chocolate and drink it curled up reading a good book.

Below is my personal autumn gallery, containing some of my favourites from my collection. Click or tap on an image to enlarge it.

It looked like the world was covered in a cobbler crust of brown sugar and cinnamon.

Sarah Addison Allen

All photographs on this site are copyright myself, unless otherwise stated. If you’d like to use any of them, please get in touch via the Contact form.

My Favourite Things: Libraries

On By Anna CarlyleIn My Favourite Things6 Comments

While perusing images for this site, I came across some beautiful ones of libraries, and it reminded me how much I love them.

From grand…

When I was young, six or seven years old, my mother used to take me to the local children’s library, which at the time was housed in a grand Victorian building. An impressive dark oak staircase, of the sort Victorians specialised in, led down to the large room, which contained many dark wood bookcases and long tables. There I would explore the plentiful offerings, excited to borrow the latest adventure which would take me to worlds of freedom and excitement. I’d enjoyed books from an early age, but I think it was in that library that my love for them – and the stories they contained – became a passion.

Continue reading “My Favourite Things: Libraries” →