The Beachcomber - Hardcover

Cox, Josephine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007146051 ISBN 13: 9780007146055

Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

One of the country's bestselling storytellers joins HarperCollins with her new page-turning drama about struggle and triumph over adversity. The Beachcomber is the story of two people, each with a dream, each lonely in different ways, and just when everything seems to be coming right for them, fate steps in to turn their worlds upside down. In the summer of 1952, two lonely people arrive in the pretty seaside hamlet of West Bay. Strangers coming from very different backgrounds, they are there for the same reasons: to find peace of mind and the chance to start a new life. A quiet, lonely man, Tom Troy has abandoned all his possessions and walked away from a highly paid job. A year ago, he had a wife and two beautiful children, when suddenly his world was turned upside-down. The car he was driving with his family was deliberately run off the seaside road high above the cliffs. He was the only survivor. The maniac driver - who Tom is sure intended to kill them all - has never been found. Now, a year later, he needs to be alone to deal with the pain and contemplate his future. Kitty Morris has tried to cling on to her zest for life and her sense of humour through times of pain and loneliness. Recovering from her divorce, she seeks comfort in the arms of other men and parties. But a shocking, revealing row with her mother is the final straw, and consequently when she inherits a rundown house in West Bay, she flees to Dorset. For both Tom and Kitty, it seems there is hope of rebuilding their lives. Yet even now, someone means to wreck both Tom and Kitty's search for happiness. People are jealous. And a brutal killer is still on the loose...Suddenly West Bay is not the peaceful place it was...

About this title

About the Author:

The story of Josephine Cox is as extraordinary as anything in her novels. Born in a cotton-mill house in Blackburn, she was one of ten children. Her parents, she says, brought out the worst in each other, and life was full of tragedy and hardship - but not without love and laughter. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married 'a caring and wonderful man', and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at Cambridge University, though was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home. However, she did go into teaching, while at the same time helping to renovate the derelict house that became their home and coping with the problems caused by her mother's unhappy home life. At this time, she was writing her first full-length novel. Not surprisingly, she then won the 'Superwoman of Great Britain' Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, and this coincided with the acceptance of her novel for publication. Josephine has now given up teaching in order to write full time. She says 'I love writing, both recreating scenes and characters from my past, together with new storylines.

From AudioFile:

Suffering the pain of loss, Tom Arnold and Kathy Wilson each arrive, for different reasons, in the quiet seaside village of West Bay, far from London. The year is 1952. They've not yet met, but they soon will. And with the ease and generosity of Carole Boyd's reading, the listener will succumb to the multifaceted story and happily travel through the hills and valleys of the ensuing romance. Boyd never lets up. As her musical speaking voice graces each character with its own persona, she exudes every essence of perfection necessary to being a great narrator. J.P. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0007146051
• ISBN 13: 9780007146055
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1