The idea behind the Classic Comfort posts is that each featured writer chooses a favourite title from the classics – we’ll define ‘classic’ as pre-1940 – and a favourite comfort read, a book they always return to, for whatever reasons. As third book in each post, we’ll have one by the writer.

This week, we have historical fiction writer Jane Cable, who also writes as Eva Glyn and whose dual timeline romance The Forgotten Maid is currently 99p/c on kindle – more about that later.
Over to Jane:

Classic:

Poldark, by Winston Graham
Having not watched either TV series I came to Poldark late, but particularly after moving to Cornwall I promised myself I would read the books. The way Graham brings the era in the county to life; the high and the low people, the rough and the smooth, is testament to his skill as a writer, his descriptions sliding seamlessly into the wonderful stories he weaves.
His research is impeccable too, but I have caught him out just the once. In The Black Moon, which is set in 1794-5, the Poldarks visit the Daniell family at Trelissick, but they didn’t move to the house until 1803. It’s an obscure piece of knowledge though; if I hadn’t been researching the Daniells for The Forgotten Maid then I wouldn’t have known.

Comfort:

The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilchard
I read this book when it first came out and have loved it ever since. It’s the character of Penelope Keeling that drew me into it; it was so very refreshing, at a time when the most popular books were bonk-busters, to have a protagonist in her later years. There was something about her that reminded me of my mother too.

To me, everything about the book is perfect; the family tensions so skilfully drawn, the echoes of Penelope’s past that made her who she is. And the ending. I sobbed and sobbed. And I do it every time.

Thank you, Jane! I love the Poldark books too; I have them all in paperback, but I must confess I preferred the original TV series to the new one. And The Shell Seekers has been on my tbr list forever – maybe this winter…

The Forgotten Maid is one of five books Jane has written under her own name, all standalone women’s fiction. It’s set in lovely Cornwall, so grab yourselves a bargain while it’s on offer. Here’s the blurb:

Two centuries apart, two lonely women seek a place to call home…

Cornwall, 2015

Nomadic project manager Anna Pritchard has arrived in the village of Porthnevek to oversee the construction of a trendy new glamping site. But with many members of the local community strongly opposed to the development, she quickly finds herself ostracised and isolated.
Seeking to ease her loneliness, Anna begins volunteering at a nearby National Trust once owned by the aristocratic Daniell family. Anna spends more and more time steeped in local history, and it seems that the past and the present are beginning to collide…

Cornwall, 1815

After losing her brother in the Battle of Waterloo, French army seamstress Thérèse Ruguel finds herself in Cornwall as a lady’s maid to kindly Elizabeth Daniell.
Able to speak only a little English — and with the other servants suspicious of her — Thérèse feels lost and alienated. And when she discovers her brother may still be alive, she is forced to trust an enigmatic smuggler. Will it be the biggest mistake of her life?

Jane Cable’s books are romance with a ghostly twist and a look over the shoulder at the past, her Cornish Echoes series inspired by her love of the county where she has made her home. She also writes relationship driven fiction as Eva Glyn for One More Chapter, an imprint of Harper Collins.

You can find out more about Jane and her books on her website, and on Facebook and Twitter.

Next month’s Classic Comfort post comes from Georgia Rose, who writes both psychological and romantic suspense. I’ll leave you now with two of Jane’s lovely book covers.