Talking Location With.. Linn B Halton – CORNWALL

12th November 2022

#TalkingLocationWith… Linn B Halton, author of Finding Happiness at Penvennan Cove

Dreaming of Cornwall and Penvennan Cove…

People flock to Cornwall in summer, but I prefer to visit out of season. My last two trips – both for research purposes, naturally – took place in November and the following May.

High summer is wonderful… there is a buzz in the air. When the sun is shining it feels like heaven on earth. The raucous call of the seagulls, that salty tang in the air and restaurants with menus boasting freshly caught fish. Life doesn’t get any better, surely?

However, it’s the drama and the sheer romance of Cornwall that keeps me going back there.

One stormy and rain-soaked November, I walked the cliff paths and while my coat soaked up the rain, I soaked up the ambience. I returned home with photos of cobbled streets, quaint Cornish cottages and empty beaches looking out over a turbulent sea. One part of the trip came to an abrupt halt due to a couple of fallen trees. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such massive swells that swept over narrow country lanes and had me clinging onto the edge of my seat.

It was then that the character of Kerra Shaw first popped into my head. I felt her sadness, as I imagined myself walking in her footsteps. A successful entrepreneur returning home, Kerra had to face up to the reasons why she was in such a hurry to leave some ten years’ prior. Do you ever forget your first love? And what about her grandfather, who lost his life when his boat was caught in a storm?

I returned home and the fictional Penvennan Cove was born. It was still a little pile of notes in an A4 folder at that point as it would be another six months until I began to write the story.

Fast forward to the start of May and research trip number two. I spent a few days at The Pier House, a charming inn that sits along Charlestown’s historic Georgian harbour looking out to sea. It’s famous for its Tall Ships and that stay inspired the character of Ross Treloar.

This time, in place of the atmospheric storm-ridden experience that was both thrilling and scary at the same time, the sky and the sea were an almost unbelievable Mediterranean blue. My mind turned to the romantic aspects inspired by the overwhelming, and often stark, beauty of the Cornish coastline.

I tuned into the passion of the people who were born and bred there; the fishermen who risk their lives every time they set sail, their loved ones eager to have them safely back on dry land. But history also greets you at every turn – whether it’s in the small cottages still owned by local families, or the now abandoned mines.

Thoughts of smugglers from long ago and the women folk keeping a lookout for the shoals of herrings that would feed their families during the long winter; life doesn’t get any more passionate than that.

Fast forward to today and imagine a little cove sitting next to Charlestown; it’s the place where Kerra was born and where she hoped to find happiness…

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Linn B Halton

Catch Linn on Twitter @LinnBHalton

Linn B Halton’s latest book Finding Happiness in Penvennan Cove is published in paperback by Aria for £9.99 on 10th November 2022.

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