Novel set in Overijssel 1961
Talking Location With … Jane Johnson: CORNWALL
5th June 2025
#TalkingLocationWith ... Jane Johnson, author of Secrets of the Bees set in CORNWALL
SECRETS OF THE BEES is set in one of the hidden bits of West Cornwall, one of the out-of-the-way places only the locals know about. From where I sit as I write this, in a tucked-away growing space I share with neighbours I can see much of Mousehole, the village where I live; but most people will have no idea I am here. I can see the back of the old Methodist chapel, the flag flying over the British Legion, the big house that during the war served as a brothel… Not far from there Mousehole School, one of the best in the county and my friend Helen’s house, with whom I share my main growing space upon the cliff outside the village. If I close my eyes and concentrate, I can hear the ubiquitous herring gulls, chattering jackdaws, dunnocks, wrens, robins, bluetits, great tits, chaffinches, wood pigeons, and every so often ravens fly overhead honking peaceably to one another. But most people wouldn’t know this magical little spot existed.
Such hidden spaces inspired this novel. My protagonist, old Ezra Curnow, lives in a place most people would never pass by, where life has not changed for the last hundred years or so. He lives lightly on the land, cultivating just what he needs to get by, in balance with the natural world. In his greenhouse he grows not only tomato plants but his special cash crop – marijuana – off the sales of which he lives for most of the year. It’s not unknown in Cornwall for this sort of thing to go on. I remember a police helicopter raid on the cliffs outside here some years back, where somebody was illicitly growing cannabis, spotted from a fly-past. Everybody in the village knew who was growing it but nobody informed on them: which is very old-Cornwall.
Stunning West Penwith
SECRETS OF THE BEES is a novel about the coming together of old Cornwall – with its traditions and superstitions, its insularity and its knowledge and understanding of the natural world – coming into conflict with people from the outside. Tourism has overtaken so much of the housing stock here that people working in key jobs – teachers, nurses, shop staff, garage workers – can find nowhere to rent let alone own, since prices have become sky-high. Rundown properties that come on the market get snapped by developers, done up and then rented out at inflated prices to visitors. And that’s basically the plan for Ezra’s cottage in the book, since his property exists in a sort of no-man’s land, where nobody knows where the boundary for Trengrose Estate begins and ends. The new owners are keen to oust Ezra in order to add a revenue stream to their income, which happens down here all the time. I’ve had friends given notice by people who want to Airbnb their properties and make far more money than from a regular local rent. It’s hollowing out our communities.
Once, Mousehole had not just its excellent school, but two chapels, a Sunday school, a butcher, baker, grocer, a post office and newsagent, but now up to 70% of the village housing stock is either a second home or a holiday let, and in the winter there’s only a small core community here, which won’t sustain a range of shops. There’s a balance to be struck. Nobody begrudges visitors wishing to come and share our little paradise. It is beautiful and we love seeing people enjoy it, but we need to find a more sustainable way. A lot of what I was writing about in the novel is the need for a coming together of old Cornwall (the traditions, awareness, sensitivity to the environment) with the money and energy and ideas of ‘new’ Cornwall. We don’t want our old housing stock rotting apart and falling down: we do need investment, but we need people to live and raise their families here and create a thriving, joyous, multicultural and multigenerational community.
Mousehole
But SECRETS OF THE BEES is not a preaching book: it’s a mystery, a thriller, a humorous tale, and one that I hope will show readers the beauties of the hidden parts of Cornwall, the overgrown footpaths blooming with blackthorn and wild daffodils, with thrift and sea campions and fumitory. And the lesser known stone circles and menhirs that dot the ancient landscape down here and give the land its power. Ezra is just like a standing stone: ancient, solitary, obdurate, granite gilded with rosettes of lichen – an eternal symbol of Cornwall, but very much himself. I do hope you’ll love him.
Jane’s allotment
Jane Johnson
‘Secrets of the Bees by Jane Johnson is published by Head of Zeus on 5th June at £20’.
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