Here are some of the books we are reading right now if you are looking for beach books. Why not write to us and let us know what’s on your bookshelves or Kindle right now?
Tidelands
Philippa Gregory
It is 1648 and there is civil war in England with King Charles I and his Royalist followers and Oliver Cromwell and Parliament on opposing sides. Throughout the country, families and entire communities are being torn apart. Its impact is even felt in the remote Tidelands on the south coast where a young healer and midwife called Alinor helps a young man on the run by showing him the way through the marshes. Little does she know that this will bring both love and disaster into her life.
Descended from wise women and skilled in the use of herbs, Alinor is accused of witchcraft by jealous rivals and superstitious villagers at a dangerous time for strong, single women.
Gregory recreates civil war Britain and the lives of the Tidelanders with skill. Readers who enjoyed the Cousins War novels of the Wars of the Roses such as The White Queen will want to read this one.
The Salt Path
Raynor Winn
Ray and her husband Moth met as teenagers and fell in love. We meet them many years later living in their dream home, a farmhouse they renovated in mid-Wales. Their two children were working and studying and they were facing the prospect of more happy years together when disaster struck. An investment opportunity with a friend went sour and they were sucked into the ensuing court case, eventually losing their house. Worse news followed when Moth was diagnosed with an incurable disease.
With no jobs and faced with the prospect of homelessness, and mortality, they decided to put their beloved house behind them by walking the coast path from Somerset to the tip of Cornwall in southwest England. The Salt Path is the compelling story of their adventures.
Funny, sad, moving and packed with evocative descriptions of dramatic cliffs and bays, the characters they meet on the way and the challenges of the ever-changing British weather, this is a story of hope. Walking seems to help Moth and he grows stronger, even though the couple are wild camping and exposed to wind, rain and waves.
Wherever you are, when you turn the last page and finish this book it makes you want to put on your walking boots and head for the trail.
Ray Winn has just published her second book. The Wild Silence continues her story with Moth: tales from their youth, learning to live with his health challenges, a new farm to renovate and more incredible walks.
If you run out of beach books pop over to Puerto Morelos. There is a bookstore on the main square called Alma Libre that stocks a good selection of new and secondhand books in English, Spanish and other languages. It is open daily 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
