#20BooksofSummer: A Cornish Summer by Catherine Alliott

What do the names Hugo, Belinda, Flora, Ibby and Theo say to you? What about a dog called Truffle?

What they tell me is that these characters do not live on a housing estate, nor do (or did) they attend the local comprehensive. They don’t drink alcopops, or at least not without irony. And they don’t drink Irn Bru either…

And as for the dog, well it’s not going to be a Staffie, is it? (Unless it’s been rescued from a life of misery, rehomed somewhere altogether more upmarket and is now just hoping its old mates won’t hear its new name in public...) If you think gun dog you’re on the right track….Truffle is of course a black Labrador.

Black Labrador - image: Pinterest

For yes, we are in the land of Old Money, where money itself must never be mentioned, but its signals must be laid out for all to see. Manor houses, horses, lunch on the terrace (and most definitely NOT barbies on the patio…), kitchen supps round the Aga, children ‘away at school’. This is England. Or it is if you belong to that very special little club called privilege.

These are the kind of people who, in real life, can annoy me no end, but in her excellent A Cornish Summer Catherine Alliott shows us that even rich people have problems, as she charts the course of one life-changing summer. What’s more, Alliott draws the strands of their various lives together in a skilful, page-turning plot, one that leaves the reader not only entertained but also well pleased with its conclusion.

Flora, a struggling single parent artist, returns to her ex’s family home, ostensibly to paint the portrait of its patriarch, Roger. ‘Struggling’ is of course a relative term; Flora still manages to have a flat off the Wandsworth Bridge Road, and her son Peter’s school fees are handily covered by his father.  Flora met Hugo when they were both still teenagers – he the cherished son of the wealthy Bellingdon family, owners of a water company, she the only child of an army officer. They fell in love, and an unplanned pregnancy led to their early marriage, Roger set them up in a nice little flat in Fulham, but after two years Hugo left Flora and Peter, and he’s now married to the lovely, gentle, graceful and kind Christina, mother of those perfect twins Ibby and Theo. And of course they all live in a smart house in Hampstead.

Flora would love to hate Christina (though she can’t quite find a reason to justify this.) Because unfortunately Flora is still in love with Hugo.

The relationships of these few characters alone would be enough to make a story, but into the mix Alliott throws Roger’s wife, the nouveau riche, floatily-dressed, schemer Belinda, Flora’s artist friend Celia, who has been invited to join her in the Bellingdons’ lovely beachside holiday cottage, and ‘Rogering Roger’s’ mistress, the naughty, wealthy, early-widowed Babs (fans of The Archers will soon recognise a clone of naughty, wealthy, early-widowed Lillian Bellamy), who gives him everything Belinda doesn’t, with no strings attached. Babs, Flora’s mother Maggie and Roger’s sister Iris grew up together in Cornwall. 

Flora isn’t expecting to find Hugo and Christina already in residence when she turns up at Trewarren, the Bellingdons’ spectacular clifftop mansion, but it’s not the only thing Belinda has kept from her – also staying at the house is Tommy Rochester, Hugo’s best friend from school and Flora’s arch-enemy, who she believes once tried to stop her wedding to Hugo because he didn’t think she was good enough. With him is leggy, laid back blond Janey Karachin.  It’s clear that Belinda is up to something – but what? And why has Peter, who was clearly also in the know, not warned Flora in advance?

More complications follow when Flora catches up with her own best school friend, Shona, now a very successful investigative TV journalist, and meets conservationist Professor Ted Fleming, in Truro on behalf of the government to look into the toxic effects of environmental waste.

Alliott excels at creating believable characters. Having recently read another book in which the dialogue would never have been spoken in real life, by anyone, ever, I especially noticed how easily the conversation flows in A Cornish Summer – I felt as though I was just listening to these people as they chatted away, and I recognised their types not because they are caricatures but because people like them really do exist. The novel reminded me, in wholly good ways, of Jilly Cooper’s early work – Harriet, Prudence, Octavia and Imogen all came to mind. Like Cooper, Alliott has the gift of being able to tell a good story with a light touch, to make us care about her characters even though few of us live lives of such affluence. And there is plenty of humour too – badly-behaved Babs is a hoot, and an episode in which Celia’s ex- boyfriend Edward, a sensitive aka self-obsessed playwright with very special needs, turns up to win her back is hilarious.

I liked the way in which several of the characters show real development as the story unfolds. Many eventually have to examine their behaviour and motives – even Flora has come to terms with the need to rein in her desire to protect her son, and to accept that he is now almost a man - and at least two of the main players have to face some very painful truths indeed.

Porscatho Regatta - image: Visit Cornwall

As Flora works to finish Roger’s portrait, her friendship with Ted possibly on the cusp of becoming more and her suspicions about Tommy Rochester’s activities growing daily, things come to a head with a series of cataclysmic events on the day of the annual regatta. Revelations, confrontations, and a desperate decision taken by someone under pressure, make it a day to remember for everyone, and Flora’s life is changed forever as she finally learns to move on – but with whom?

A Cornish Summer is a very enjoyable read. Yes, it is in some ways pure escapism, but that is not all it is – Alliott examines many issues through her wonderful characters, few of whom fail to win our empathy, and I found the ending of the book very satisfying.

A Cornish Summer by Catherine Alliott is published by Penguin Random House.