Polmena Cove - Hardcover

Following an intriguing prologue, Lide (The Homecoming) raises the curtain on her setting-a romantic, post-WWI Cornwall-and principal characters, Em Trevarisk and her younger cousin Lily Polleven. During a walk on the coast, the girls discover a squatter in the Polmena Cove bungalow-the site of Lily's illegitimate birth and the common link of several intertwining story lines. Flighty Lily matures quickly as she first resists the war-injured squatter (who may possibly have a lawful claim over the Cove), but then she faces her growing attraction and helps him to fight the cove's despoilation. Also on hand is Lily's nasty brother, manipulated by his social-climbing girlfriend and by his grandfather, who plots to develop the disputed property as a resort. Cousin Em, meanwhile, needs all her stoic faith as she awaits signs of recovery in her shell-shocked former fiance. Lide's writing is thin, and she takes a long time to deliver on her prologue's suspenseful promise. Rapid shifts in viewpoint distract, and final scenes at a mine accident stretch credibility. And the most potentially interesting of the stories, that of the fishergirl and her soldier who parented Lily, remains untold.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the author of Sea Scape comes a tale of two cousins, Emma Trevarisk and Lily Polleven, living in a Cornish seaside village. Emma's fianc‚, Will Pendray, returned from the battlefields of World War I suffering from shell shock and shutting Emma out of his life. Lily's childhood playground, Polmena Cove, is suddenly off-limits because of Richard Chote, who claims he owns the cove. Twenty years earlier, Richard's uncle had died saving Emma and Lily's uncle from a fishing accident, and now Richard plans to reclaim part of his family's heritage without interference from the Pollevens. Richard and Lily meet as adversaries as Lily opposes Richard's claim of ownership, and then become star-crossed lovers as Lily supports him once she learns her brother Michael plans to destroy the cove. Meanwhile, it takes Richard's understanding of war to reclaim Will from his emotional wasteland and set him on the path to loving Emma again. But Emma and Lily's world almost shatters completely when Michael tries to dynamite Polmena Cove, and Richard and Will are trapped with Michael in the explosion. Highly recommended. Melanie Duncan