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Find out moreLucy Wood has a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Exeter University. She grew up in Cornwall. Diving Belles is her first work.
Along Cornwall's ancient coast, the flotsam and jetsam of the past becomes caught in the cross-currents of the present and, from time to time, a certain kind of magic can float to the surface...Straying husbands lured into the sea can be fetched back, for a fee. Magpies whisper to lonely drivers late at night. Trees can make wishes come true - provided you know how to wish properly first. Houses creak, fill with water and keep a fretful watch on their inhabitants, straightening shower curtains and worrying about frayed carpets. A teenager's growing pains are sometimes even bigger than him. And, on a windy beach, a small boy and his grandmother keep despair at bay with an old white door. In these stories, Cornish folklore slips into everyday life. Hopes, regrets and memories are entangled with catfish, wrecker's lamps, standing stones and baying hounds, and relationships wax and wane in the glow of a moonlit sea.
An uncanny, startlingly beautiful story collection steeped in the Cornish landscape, from the award-winning author of Diving Belles and Other Stories and Weathering. At the very edge of England, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the land and visitors flock in with the summer like seagulls, there is a Cornwall that is not shown on postcards. It is a place where communication cables buzz deep beneath the sand; where satellite dishes turn like flowers on clifftops, and where people drift like flotsam, caught in eddying tides. Restless children haunt empty holiday homes, a surfer struggles with the undertow of family life, a girl watches her childhood spin away from her in the whirl of a night-time fairground and, in a web of sea caves, a brother and sister search the dark for something lost. These astonishing, beguiling stories of ghosts and shifting sands, of static caravans and shipwrecked cargo, explore notions of landscape and belonging, permanence and impermanence, and the way places can take hold and never quite let go.
An uncanny, startlingly beautiful story collection steeped in the Cornish landscape, from the award-winning author of Diving Belles and Other Stories and Weathering. At the very edge of England, where the Atlantic Ocean meets the land and visitors flock in with the summer like seagulls, there is a Cornwall that is not shown on postcards. It is a place where communication cables buzz deep beneath the sand; where satellite dishes turn like flowers on clifftops, and where people drift like flotsam, caught in eddying tides. Restless children haunt empty holiday homes, a surfer struggles with the undertow of family life, a girl watches her childhood spin away from her in the whirl of a night-time fairground and, in a web of sea caves, a brother and sister search the dark for something lost. These astonishing, beguiling stories of ghosts and shifting sands, of static caravans and shipwrecked cargo, explore notions of landscape and belonging, permanence and impermanence, and the way places can take hold and never quite let go.
The Little Book of Lincolnshire is a compendium of fascinating information about this historic county, past and present. Contained within is a plethora of entertaining facts about Lincolnshire's famous and occasionally infamous men and women, its towns and countryside, history, natural history, literary, artistic and sporting achievements, loony laws, customs ancient and modern, transport, battles and ghostly inhabitants. A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped in to time and time again to reveal something new about the people, the heritage, the secrets and the enduring fascination of the county. A remarkably engaging little book, this is essential reading for visitors and locals alike.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BETTY TRASK PRIZE 2016 Pearl doesn't know how she's ended up in the river - the same messy, cacophonous river in the same rain-soaked valley she'd been stuck in for years. Or why, for that matter, she'd been stupid enough to fall down those rickety stairs. Ada, Pearl's daughter, doesn't know how she's ended up back in the house she left thirteen years ago - with no heating apart from a fire she can't light, no way of getting around apart from an old car she's scared to drive, and no company apart from echoing footsteps on the damp floorboards. With her daughter Pepper, she starts to sort through Pearl's things, clearing the house so she can leave and not look back. Pepper has grown used to following her restless mother from place to place, but this house, with its faded photographs, its boxes of cameras and its stuffed jackdaw, is something new. Fascinated by the scattering of people she meets, by the river that unfurls through the valley, and by the strange old woman who sits on the bank with her feet in the cold, coppery water, Pepper doesn't know why anyone would ever want to leave. As the first frosts of autumn herald the coming of a long winter and Pepper and Ada find themselves irresistibly entangled with the life of the valley, each will discover the ways that places can take root inside us and bind us together.
Taking you through the year day by day, The Grimsby Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, shocking, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the town. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Grimsby's archives and covering the social, political, religious, agricultural, criminal, industrial and sporting history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.
LONGLISTED FOR THE DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE 2012 Along Cornwall's ancient coast, from time to time, the flotsam and jetsam of the past can become caught in the cross-currents of the present and a certain kind of magic floats to the surface... Straying husbands lured into the sea can be fetched back, for a fee. Houses creak, fill with water and keep a fretful watch on their inhabitants. And, on a windy beach, a small boy and his grandmother keep despair at bay with an old white door. In these stories, hopes, regrets and memories are entangled with catfish, wreckers' lamps and baying hounds as Cornish folklore slips into everyday life.
Sandige Fuspuren, die plotzlich im Haus eines jungen Paares auftauchen. Elstern, die einsamen Autofahrern in der Nacht etwas zuraunen. Frauen, die sich in Taucherglocken auf den Meeresboden hinablassen, um ihre verschollenen Manner wiederzufinden. Menschen, denen bei jedem Schritt Wasser aus den Stiefeln schwappt. Strandgut, Stechginster, Gebeine von Riesen. Licht in anderer Leute Hauser. Ein Baum, der Wunsche erfullt. Menschen, die verschwinden, und nur ein kleines Fischlein bleibt zuruck auf dem Kissen. Lucy Woods Debt ist aufsehenerregend, zwlf Erzhlungen, denen die Geschichte und Folklore Cornwalls eingeschrieben sind. Rau wie die Kste, windumtost und voll unerwarteter Umschwnge. "e;Ein berwltigendes und berwltigend gutes Debt!"e; JON McGREGOR
What happens to witches as they get older? Welcome to Blue Moon Nursing Home, where residents turn into rabbits, vacuum bags fill up with bits of potion ingredients, and residents, despite never seeming to age on the outside, still suffer from the pains of aging. Here, Mrs. Tivoli keeps herself company with the image of a man she releases from a small bottle in her room, an image from a future which she will have no power to change.
In Cornish folklore, the little people are one of a complex tribe of elves, pixies and fairies. Their world is invisible to the human eye; some folks say that young women are chosen to go and live in their world to look after the babies. But what happens to these women when they return? On a weekend home, a daughter accidentally discovers the invisible world, made visible, that her mothers loneliness may be misleading, and that long-forgotten rumors about her mothers relationship with the little people are more real than she had ever credited.
This magnificent two-volume set explores one aspect of the outstanding collection of furniture that the great collector Sir William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851-1925), bequeathed to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Merseyside: the pieces designed for support-primarily seat furniture, but also beds, footstools, and a coach model.While most of the collection is British, the largest and one of the most important sets was crafted in Rome for Napoleon's uncle, Cardinal Fesch. The catalogue provides detailed information on patrons, designers, and makers, and on aspects of design, manufacture, upholstery, and usage for each piece in the collection.
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