Monday 4 July 2016

Giveaway: Win a copy of Under a Cornish Sky by Liz Fenwick

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to have been sent a paperback copy of Under a Cornish Sky which is being published next week but as I already have a trade copy, and Emma has already reviewed the book which you can read here, I have decided to do a giveaway for this extra copy instead.

Demi desperately needs her luck to change. On the sleeper train down to Cornwall, she can't help wondering why everything always goes wrong for her. Having missed out on her dream job, and left with nowhere to stay following her boyfriend's betrayal, pitching up at her grandfather's cottage is her only option.

Victoria thinks she's finally got what she wanted: Boscawen, the gorgeous Cornish estate her family owned for generations should now rightfully be hers, following her husband's sudden death. After years of a loveless marriage and many secret affairs of her own, Victoria thinks new widowhood will suit her very well indeed . . .


But both women are in for a surprise. Surrounded by orchards, gardens and the sea, Boscawen is about to play an unexpected role in both their lives. Can two such different women find a way forward when luck changes both their lives so drastically?



To be in with a chance to win this book to enjoy reading on your Summer holiday, enter via the Rafflectopter form below.  The winner will be selected at random next Monday and contacted for postal address to enable me to post the book to you but to whet your appetite I have permission from Liz's publisher to share the prologue with you.

Prologue

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
Shakespeare
The eyes look at her and Demi laughs. She turns to the child next to her, the one she has played with all week, but the boy is not there. Nor is the girl who is looking after them, nor are the other children. She is alone with the butterfly and the sunshine. It is so beautiful. She steps closer to it and it flies away to stop on a purple flower. Looking around, she decides to follow the butterfly. It must be flying the way the others went. Maybe the butterfly was really a fairy or even a Cornish pixie. Mummy says pixies are naughty, like Demi is when she doesn’t eat her carrots. 
     The butterfly holds still only for a moment and then the next it is gone. Demi tries to catch it, but can’t. When she is back at the hotel, she will draw the butterfly for Mummy.
     The purple eyes flap and move, setting off again. There must be a fairy on its back. It goes up then down, stopping to rest but then moving on towards the woods and the bluebells. Grannie has told her all about the bluebells. She has been to bluebell woods before. This is where the fairies live and she must never go into a bluebell wood without Grannie or Grandad because the fairies will trap her. Grannie told her that long ago when she was really small. But the butterfly with the purple eyes flies into the woods and Demi follows. She is big now and the fairies can’t catch her because she can run fast.

     The path twists and turns. Demi skips, singing a song Grannie taught her as she goes: ‘Bluebell, bluebell, what a pretty bluebell. Bluebell, bluebell, will you really true tell? Who will love me bluebell? Do tell?’ She stops and listens. Will the bluebells tell her? Mummy loves her, Grannie loves her, Grandad loves her, and Charlie loves her. She doesn’t need the bluebells to true tell.
     Sunlight falls through the trees colouring the ground blue and purple. Demi takes out the crayon in her pocket and pretends to draw the trees and the flowers. The sun is high and her tummy rumbles and her head hurts. Spinning around and around, she falls to the ground. The butterfly disappears and she is alone. 
     She is in the fairies’ wood; she knows she is. She can feel their magic. 
     A butterfly passes in front of her, cutting the sunlight in half for a second. Demi shivers as a breeze moves the bells. Will they ring? What was it Grannie said? If you hear the bluebells ring, something will die. Mummy told her to stop telling her these old super-somethings. Demi puts her hands over her ears, but she can hear ringing. She stands up. The wind blows stronger and she shivers. She must get away. A twig snaps and Demi looks around. She can see nothing but flowers and trees. She runs and she stumbles. Throwing her hands out she lands. Pain. Blood. Tears. She gets up. She must keep running but she can’t get her breath. ‘Mummy!’ she cries. Her voice is taken by the wind. Mummy won’t hear her call.
     A shadow darkens the path and fear tightens her tummy. It must be the Kowres, the scary giantess that Grannie tells her will eat her if she strays out past the end of the garden. Granny showed her the one that had turned to stone in the field near where Granny grew up. 
     Her knees, hands and head hurt, but she must escape the Kowres. She will eat her. Grannie says the Kowres like to eat children who don’t do what they are told! 
     The stone Kowres looms in front of her. She runs to it and away from the giant behind. She tries to hide but the giant grabs her. The Kowres have caught her! She can smell ginger. Will the Kowres eat her? Was it because she heard the bluebell ring?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

6 comments:

  1. Never been. Would love to go but would be a long trip as I live at the opposite end of the country. One day maybe as my mum has always wanted to go. Lx

    ReplyDelete
  2. No, I haven't been to Cornwall yet but lately I've read so many amazing books set there that I feel like I already know it. I can't wait to visit! Alba x

    ReplyDelete
  3. We love Cornwall. Godrevy beach near st ives is our favourite place xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the seal sanctuary at Gweek!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Never been but would love to go. X

    ReplyDelete