Reviewed by Emma Crowley
The Cornish fishing village of Tremarnock seems to have it all. Charming houses cluster round the harbour where fishermen unload their catch each day. There is a pub, a corner shop and a brilliant restaurant. Everyone knows everyone else and mostly they look out for each other. But throw a stranger – a beautiful stranger – into the mix and all bets are off.
Vivacious Chabela Penhallow is on holiday from Mexico to find out more about her Cornish roots, but rumours soon start to fly. Why has she really come? What is she running from? Is there more to her than meets the eye?
Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Be careful what you kiss for...
Esme Posorsky is an enigma. For as long as people can remember, she has been part of community life in the quaint Cornish fishing village of Tremarnock, but does anyone really know her? She is usually to be found working in her pottery studio or at home with her beloved cat, Rasputin. But when an old school friend turns up with a secret from the past, nothing will ever be the same again.
Meanwhile teenager, Rosie, is excited to find a bottle washed up on Tremarnock beach with a message from a former German prisoner of war. While the rest of the village is up in arms about a new housing development, she sets out to find him. Little does she know, however, that her discovery will unleash a shocking chain of events that threatens to blow her family apart.
Tremarnock may look like a cosy backwater, but some of its residents are about to come face-to-face with tough decisions and cold reality...
Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Bramble Challoner has had a very normal upbringing. She lives in a semi in the suburbs of London with her parents and works at the call centre down the road. She still goes out with the boy she met at school. At weekends they stay in and watch films on the telly and sometimes hold hands. Bramble is dying for an adventure.
So when her very grand grandfather, Lord Penrose, dies, leaving his huge, rambling house in Cornwall to her, Bramble packs her bags immediately, dragging along her best friend Katie. The sleepy village of Tremarnock had better be ready for its newest residents...
Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Tremarnock is a classic Cornish seaside village. Houses cluster around the fishing harbour. It has a pub and a sought-after little restaurant. It is here that Liz has found sanctuary for herself and her young daughter, Rosie - far away from Rosie's cheating father.
Liz works all the hours God sends. First thing in the morning she's out, cleaning offices. At night she is waitressing in the village restaurant, while friends and neighbours rally round and mind Rosie. But trouble is waiting just round the corner.
As with all villages, there are tensions, secrets - and ambitions. Emma Burstall's wonderfully engaging first novel about Tremarnock is the story of what happens when one shocking turn of events sweeps a small community.
Reviewed by Danielle Pullen
Three women in love with the same man meet for the first time at his
funeral. Can they separate the truth from the lies – and learn to trust
again?
When world famous music conductor Leo Bruck dies suddenly, he leaves
behind three grieving women and a mass of unanswered questions.
Did the man who juggled these simultaneous relationships while thrilling
audiences around the globe, direct The Darling Girls like an orchestra?
Victoria, his partner of twenty years and mother of two of his children,
regards herself as his rightful widow and keeper of his legacy.
However, a series of shocking discoveries forces her to re-examine the
man she thought she knew and query the very foundation of their
relationship.
Maddy, mother of Leo’s daughter Phoebe, has a high-powered job and seems
independent and sorted. But events take a sinister turn when Maddy
becomes involved with Victoria’s troubled teenage son, and her safe
world starts to go awry.
Finally there’s Cat who, at just 24, is Leo’s youngest lover. Coping
with a sick mother and battling demons from her childhood, she is
finding it increasingly hard to hold it together. Will grief, anger and
bitterness blind her to the possibility of ever finding happiness,
career fulfilment - and even, perhaps, new love?
The Darling Girls is a moving story of love, loss, and the prevailing
power of female friendship. Can these three very different women, whose
lives become inextricably bound, break free from the masterful control
Leo exerts - even from the grave - once and for all?
Today I'm delighted to be able to welcome author Emma Burstall to talk about her third book, The Darling Girls, which she has just published as an ebook on Kindle.
Can you tell us a little bit about The Darling Girls?
It's a gripping story about three very different women, all in love with the same man, who meet for the first time at his funeral. Little by little they start to uncover secrets about this extraordinary man that force them totally to rethink their lives and relationships. Can they separate the truth from the lies and learn to trust - and even love - again?
Where did the inspiration come from to create three characters in love with the same man?
Years ago I met a woman who revealed in a roundabout way that she was in this situation. I remember being intrigued and thinking - how on earth could she put up with it and what was it about this man that had all three women in his thrall? The conversation stuck in my mind and I always thought I'd like to write a novel about it. The Darling Girls is purely fictional , but the seeds were sown during that casual exchange.
