Rhys Celebrates a Release

 
RHYS:  Saturday was apparently National Paperback book day (who knew there was such a thing?), and it was appropriate for me as this week I celebrate the release of the paperback edition of THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS.

The book came out in hardcover last year, with little fanfare, of course, as there was no book tour and only a couple of Zoom events. But it managed to reach #10 on USA Today list, and most recently won the Agatha Award for best historical mystery.  I should be happy--right?

But now, as I look at the paperback, I'm feeling a great sense of loss and nostalgia. Because, you see, the book takes place in Cornwall (a homage to Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca) and this marks the second summer in a row that I have not been able to be in England, staying with relatives in Cornwall and enjoying the magical surroundings.

Usually we fly to England and get straight on a train in Paddington Station, heading for Truro. There we pick up a car and negotiate those scary Cornish lanes (hardly ever wide enough for two vehicles to pass) until we reach my sister-in-law's manor house.

 It's at the end of a half-mile drive, with a river at the bottom of its land. There we just feel all tension slip away. We are outside the real world. We can walk through woodlands, sit on lawns, sip a Pimms, eat a cream tea. Absolute heaven!

But we still don't feel comfortable traveling to England (where case rates are rising alarmingly) and my brother-in-law is very ill, making a visit not wise at this time. So I think I'm going to re-read my own book to remind myself about all the things I love about Cornwall.

Number one is the coastline--little fishing villages nestled between cliffs. Sandy coves to swim in. A feeling of fairy-tale.

Number two is the people. To say they are nice is an understatement. They call you 'my lovey'. Time has no meaning. I was once rushing to catch a ferry when an old man, sitting on the dock, looked up at me. "You don't need to run, my lovey," he said, "He won't be going yet. He's still having his dinner."

And number three is the food. We indulge in all the things we avoid all year: Cornish pasties come first and we have to have one on the first day, from the Oggi Oggi Pasty shop in Falmouth. Then cream teas--plenty of those too with Cornish clotted cream and homemade jam. Oh, and the clotted cream is used to make ice-creams too.  I once took a group of hiking friends to Cornwall. They were super-fit ladies, who watched their diets. I warned them they may have to bend those diets a little. They tried Cornish ice cream once and thereafter it was a main point of every day to find a new ice cream shop!  And lastly fish and chips, made with local fresh fish.

I'm sighing as I'm writing this. I'll be reliving through my photos and going back to read Mrs. Summers again.

So dear Reds, what are you missing most about not traveling? What's the first place you'll go to when we can move freely again?