books
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION! by Emma Jones
Book Review A
pparently Devon is irresistible to writers and with the lure of awe inspiring views, fresh air and moody seascapes it is
unsurprising that it is the ideal county to find inspiration for a book. Agatha Christie is the first name that comes to my mind but more recently there’s also the prize winning authors Hilary Mantel and Michael Morpurgo who are famed literary residents who sing the praises of their home county.
I’ve therefore chosen to highlight a few ‘locally
grown’ books for our first issue of TQ Magazine - echoing that sentiment to buy local and support our Devon talent!
Tony Hawks is a well-known comedian and
writer and his latest book Once Upon a Time in the
West...Country (Hodder & Stoughton) tells the story of his greatest adventure - his relatively recent move from London to Dartmoor. Like his other books he tells tales with warm wit advocating the strong sense of community that pervades his new Devon life and fondly recounts stories of the quirky goings-on and the eccentric individuals that inhabit his village. For someone who travelled around Ireland with a fridge,
the antics of a coast-to-coast cycle ride with a mini pig called Titch might seem like the obvious sequel and it’s difficult not to smile at his charm and gentle humour.
Devon is also known for
its love of good food and in Dartmouth good fish & shellfish don’t really get any better. In June we can look forward to the publication of The Seahorse: the restaurant and its recipes by Mitch Tonks & Mat Prowse (Absolute Press) by
Mitch Tonks & Mat Prowse. At this stage we have nothing else but a cover shot of the book but you can expect tasty recipes and mouth-watering photographs, all celebrating the best that we have to offer here in South Devon.
Gardens and gardening are also an important
feature in this rural county be it a humble allotment or a sweeping lawn. We all want to make the best of what we’ve got and who better to get gardening advice and ideas from but The Good Gardener by Simon Akeroyd. This is a new National Trust publication written by the Head Gardener of the English Riviera portfolio of the National Trust. In charge of Coleton Fishacre and Greenway the expertise doesn’t get any better and the book is an all-round guide for novices and experts alike. It includes tips and traditional skills & methods used in world famous UK gardens and reinterprets them to suit the contemporary garden, whatever the size.
And then moving smoothly on from gardening
in Greenway to crime fiction set around South Devon my final recommendation is Kate Ellis’ The Death Season, which will be published in paperback by Piatkus in early June. This is the author’s 19th title featuring her popular West Country Detective Wesley Peterson and is a gripping story with 3 different strands covering mysteries and murders in the past and the present. Set in the fictitious settings of Tradmouth and Bloxham soon ring bells and she is careful to keep the historical aspects of the stories as accurate as possible.
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