Barefoot on the Cobbles – a Devon tragedy

Author(s): Janet Few

Location(s): Clovelly, Bideford, Bucks Mills, Torquay

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): Early 20th Century

In the euphoria of the armistice a young woman lay dying. Daisy had grown up, barefoot on the cobbles, in a village on the rugged North Devon coast; she was mindful of the perils of the uncertain sea. Her family had also been exposed to the dangers of disease and the First World War but for Daisy, it was her own mother who posed the greatest threat of all. What burdens did that mother, an ordinary fisherman’s wife, carry? What past traumas had led, inexorably, to this appalling outcome?
Vividly recreating life at the dawning of the twentieth century, Barefoot on the Cobbles is based on a real tragedy that lay hidden for nearly a hundred years. Rooted in its unique and beautiful geographical setting, here is the unfolding of a past that reverberates unhappily through the decades and of raw emotions that are surprisingly modern in character.

This ‘based-on-fact’ novel is set in various Devon locations, primarily Clovelly, whose cobbled street is reflected in the title. The locations are carefully described and would be easily recognisable to readers who visit these places.

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