The Daughter of River Valley (Cornish Tales)

by Victoria Cornwall

Can you trust a man with no name?
Cornwall, 1861
Beth Jago appears to have the idyllic life, she has a trade to earn a living and a cottage of her own in Cornwall’s beautiful River Valley. Yet appearances can be deceptive …
Beth has a secret. Since inheriting her isolated cottage she’s been receiving threats, so when she finds a man in her home she acts on her instincts. One frying pan to the head and she has robbed the handsome stranger of his memory and almost killed him.
Fearful he may die, she reluctantly nurses the intruder back to health. Yet can she trust the man with no name who has entered her life, or is he as dangerous as his nightmares suggest? As they learn to trust one another, the outside threats worsen. Are they linked to the man with no past? Or is the real danger still outside waiting … and watching them both?

• ISBN13: 9781781893807
• Publish Date: 9 July 2019 (first published 17 July 2018)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Choc Lit Publishing
• Format: Paperback
• Language: English

Reviews

[Lynn]

4.5 stars

Set in nineteenth-century Cornwall, with its rugged coastline and river valleys, the author has written an intriguing novel which kept me turning the pages as fast as I could read.

I appreciate the originality of how the two protagonists meet; It's brutal, realistic and traumatic in its consequences. It's the beginning of the end of a life as Beth Jago knowns it since she turned up at her Grandfather's cottage as an eight-year-old orphan. For Joss Roscarrock, going to River Valley and visiting the cottage where Will Jago lived is a chance to not only reminisce about his idyllic childhood summers spent with the old man but to rid the property of its squatter.

The author has written two likeable and relatable protagonists. Beth is compassionate, hard-working and loyal and very stubborn. Softly spoken, she easily blends in the folk from the nearby villages. Despite her background, she's an accepted member within their community. By contrast, Joss struggles to fit within the society he lives. Deeply affected by his past he's ruthless in his ambition to build up the company he inherited but feels something missing from his life to give it a purpose. Together, each is capable of assisting the other to achieve what they need from life but is it too late for them as a potential couple once the truths are revealed, despite the sizzling chemistry between them?

Of the secondary characters, Martha Kitto is the most fascinating and I enjoyed her interactions with Beth. Her knowledge of folklore adds insightful interest to rural customs of those living during the Victorian Times; I love having to search Google after reading a stimulating fact and this narrative provided this opportunity a couple of times including the scenes during Golowan Feast, the Midsummer festival; a tradition very similar to ones still celebrated throughout Europe. Additionally, Ms Cornwall paints a lovely portrait of the beautiful Cornish countryside and how people and worked there during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Overall, an enthralling historical novel and my first by this author and definitely not the last.

***arc generously received courtesy of Choc Lit via NetGalley***

[Heather]

This novel explores the dynamics of people from different classes.  Beth Jago lives outside a mining town in an cabin in a valley.  She lived with her grandfather who recently died.  Since then she has been receiving eviction notices.  She is dealing with this by ignoring them until the threats become physical.

Many historical romances are about the English gentry but they don't explore the often unsavory ways these people made and maintained their fortunes.  This book looks at the motivations of the men who own the mines that the area depends on to survive.  Closing a mine can look good on paper when you don't care about the welfare of a town built around it.

I appreciated the fact that this heroine is allowed to make her own choices in this novel.  She is able to prove to herself and others that she is able to provide a living for herself.  It was important to her to know that she was going to choose to marry because she wanted to live with that man instead of marrying because it was an economic necessity.  I believe this is one of the few historical romances that include characters in such extreme poverty that going into a workhouse at several points in their life is required.   I'm finding that I like historical romances that feature working class main characters or other marginalized characters that don't often feature in traditional historical romances.

There is a storyline about an adult mentally disabled man that will be disturbing to some readers.  I don't think that it is unrealistic for the time but it will be upsetting to modern readers.

This is the third book of a series but works as a standalone novel.

This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story