Why a Booktrail?
2000s: A young girl becomes obsesssed with their new beach front neighbours
The Cliff House
What you need to know before your trail
The Davenports, with their fast cars and glamorous clothes, living the dream in a breathtaking house overlooking the sea.
If only… thinks sixteen-year-old Tamsyn, her binoculars trained on the perfect family in their perfect home.
If only her life was as perfect as theirs.
If only Edie Davenport would be her friend.
If only she lived at The Cliff House…
Travel Guide
Author’s Travel Guide – Cornwall
The author explains in the book that location in this novel was very important to her and it became a character in the novel from the very word go. The inspiration for the setting, near Sennen Cove, is tanks to her father whose favourite beach is Sennen Cove. Amanda remembers that she and her sister would play on the beach here and she would think this place was paradise and somewhere she wanted to stay for ever.
The Cliff House came to her when thinking of those happy times. The Cliff House is inspired by a house Amanda imagined which was so clear it almost resembled a photograph. It was art-deco, dominated the coast line and would offer anyone the idea of escapism. It would look like such a home that you would dream of and aspired to even stay in let alone live, that you could easily imagine who lived there and what went on behind its walls..
“The house rises up from the windswept cliffs like a chalk monolith. You imagine somebody, God perhaps has carved it from a giant block of marble, smooth and white with bold lines and straight edges and sheets of expansive glass that reflect the sea and sky like cinema screens”
The Cornish coastline:
“Gentle ripples spread out through the inky darkness which matches the time-blackened rocks that fringe the coast of Cornwall”
Trail Gallery
Booktrailer Review
Susan: @thebooktrailer
Well this was an unsettling read! A childish obsession with rich neighbours turns into something more. She’s upset yet curious of the ‘posh’ family who take up residence in the rental villa – the Cliff House – where her mother cleans. The daughter of the family soon becomes a friend but she is the black sheep of the family. The mother on the other hand is very demanding and act and theren there’s the father…what a bunch they turned out to be!
The writing is luscious and really brings summers on the beach to the front of your memories. I remember when I used to look at posh beach side houses and imagine who lived there. Still do sometimes if I’m honest. The visits to the house, the ever increasing obsession of the girl to the Cliff House and the people inside.
Nicely written and very tense in places. The writing is very evocative of nice seaside holidays and beach walks, taking in Sennen Cove, Botallack, St Just and Gwynver Beach which is a lovely journey around the rugged Cornish coast. The crashing waves, the high Cliff House hanging on the edge of the cliff – bit like the action in the book. You never know what’s going to happen next and it builds a disturbing sense of foreboding.
Next time I see a cliff house for real, I’m going to wonder!
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Cliff House
Destination: Cornwall Author/Guide: Amanda Jennings Departure Time: 1986
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