This month’s Best Reads is The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay. I read this feel-good novel in two days while suffering from a winter cold. It was hugely restorative to be transported into the wonderful seaside community of Cockleberry Bay with its sea breeze, screeching seagulls and gossiping locals.
Feel-good read with some grit
My in-laws hail from Devon, so I fully recognise the small community mentality. The author, Nicola May describes the mostly friendly, but sometimes openly hostile, locals brilliantly in The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay. There are a lot of quirky, curtain-twitching characters in this book, but what really stands out for me is the hugely believable, fiercely independent, yet vulnerable heroine of the book.
Rosa is a twenty-something orphan brought up in various children’s homes. She’s living in London with her landlord and ‘friend with benefits’ Josh when a mysterious benefactor leaves Rosa a run-down corner shop in deepest darkest Devon. Without a backward glance, Rosa leaves London to start a new life. She finds strengths within herself that she didn’t realize she possessed as she begins the back-breaking and complicated task of opening the shop up for business. However, the question of who her benefactor is, nags at her until she finds clues hidden inside the shop. The discoveries she makes change her life forever.
A feel-good plot with some grit makes The Corner Shop in Cockleberry Bay a highly enjoyable read.
From the Author
I am delighted to be able to share with you a mini-interview with the author, Nicola May, of The Corner Shop at Cockleberry Bay. I put a few pertinent questions to Nicola, with the final one being the most interesting one. Read on …
Why did you decide to set the book in Devon?
I set the book in Devon as I spent many memorable family holidays in the south-west of England. I also have since visited many times as an adult and I find the villages and beaches magical.
You describe village life very well. Do you have personal experience from an English community like the one in Cockleberry Bay?
Dittisham and Dartmouth are a couple of my favourites and I have both places in my head when I write about Cockleberry Bay. The tiny streets of Clovelly have also helped me describe the village so concisely.
I love your heroine, Rosa. How did you invent such a realistic character?
I came up with the character of Rosa as I do like to write what I call ‘chick lit with a kick’. Rosa was brought up in foster homes so immediately has a gritty survivor edge about her. I wanted the reader not only to cheer on the turn around of the corner shop but also to be involved in the journey of her development as a person.
And finally (please say ‘Yes’), is there going to be a sequel to The Corner Shop at Cocklerberry Bay?
Yes! A trilogy actually. I hope to get the second one out May/June this year.
Would you like to read more posts like this?
Isn’t that wonderful news about more books on Rosa from Nicola? I for one will be looking out for the second and third novel about Rosa and Cockleberry Bay.
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