Why a Booktrail?
2000s and 1950s: A body washed into the rocks brings with it secrets which reverberate across the decades..
The Last Night
What you need to know before your trail
In a quiet coastal village, Irina spends her days quietly restoring furniture. A family secret, long held and never discussed, casts a dark shadow and Irina chooses to bury herself in her work, her sanctuary and hide away. When an antique bureau is sent to her workshop, the owner anonymous, Irina senses a history to the object that makes her uneasy. She begins to investigate the origins of the piece and unearths the secrets it holds within…
Decades earlier in the 1950s, another young woman, Abigail is keeping secrets.. Over the course of one summer, she fell in love, and dreamed of the future. But Abigail could not know that a catastrophe loomed, and this event would change the course of many lives for ever…
Travel Guide
Lynmouth
Incorporating a real and such a devastating event into a fictional story can’t be easy but here it appears effortless. The overwhelming power of water and the destruction it causes is powerfully evoked.
On 15 and 16 August 1952, a storm of tropical intensity broke over South West England. Some 9 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours and since the area was already pretty waterlogged, the events were devastating. Debris – laden flood waters damaged everything in their path.
After the 1952 disaster, the village was rebuilt, including diverting the river around the village. There was a small number of houses on the bank of the East Lyn River which weren’t rebuilt and there is now a memorial plaque there.
The Lynton Railway is a major feature in the novel and was a celebrated attraction at the time.
There is a memorial hall dedicated to the disaster on the front near the harbour. More information can be found in St John the Baptist parish church.
Bristol
A city suffering from war and poverty:
“…the war leaving its reminders on their bodies. The reminders were visible on Bristol too: the gaps in a terrace of houses, a pile or bricks waiting to be removed…”
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information: The Last Night
Author/Guide: Cesca Major Destination: Lynmouth, Bristol Departure Time: 2000s and 1950s
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