Beachcomber - Softcover

Cox, Josephine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061763314 ISBN 13: 9780061763311

Publisher: William Morrow & Company, 2009

Synopsis

One of Great Britain's most beloved bestselling authors, Josephine Cox enthralls American readers with a poignant tale of broken lives redeemed.

The windswept village of West Bay is hope, an escape, and a future for Kathy Wilson, who dreams of turning the empty cottage she inherited into a home free of the pain she suffered back in London. As the summer slowly passes, she puzzles silently over her fascination with an enigmatic wanderer who strolls the beach below her window.

Tom Marcus needed a place to hide when the life he knew was brutally destroyed. Inexplicably drawn to this captivating loner, Kathy feels a bond forming that will radically change them both. But the shadows that haunt them will not be dismissed--until they can find the courage to open their hearts.

About this title

Review:

Josephine Cox has a truly devoted following for whom this bestselling author can do no wrong. So it's fortunate, therefore, that she so rarely deviates from the thoroughly engrossing narratives that are her stock-in-trade. Her new book, The Beachcomber, demonstrates all her considerable virtues: a grand, sweeping narrative, colourful and evocative scene-setting and (most of all) sympathetically drawn leading characters that pull the reader inexorably into her richly wrought story.

Set in the summer of 1942, The Beachcomber has two protagonists from disparate social settings, but both sharing the sense that something crucial is missing from their lives. In the quiet seaside town of West Bay, Tom Arnold is coming to terms with what many would deem a rash action--he has walked away from a prestigious job after his wife and children were killed when the car he was driving was forced off a precipitous cliff road by another motorist. Tom is convinced that the driver (who has never been tracked down) intended to destroy them all. As Tom contemplates his bleak future, Kathy Wilson similarly struggles with a sense of loss after a terrible argument with her mother brings home to her how unfulfilling her life of loneliness is. She has inherited a down-at-heel house in West Bay. Inevitably, the two find each other, and it's here that Cox's top-notch skills as a romantic writer are truly in their element. We are made to care for both of these well-drawn characters, and even without the return of the killer who destroyed Tom's family, we would still be pretty comprehensively gripped by the narrative. Josephine Cox fans will not need anyone to tell them that this is choice stuff—their favourite author is up to her usual standard. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

"In true Josephine Cox style, it's the triumph-over-tragedy formula which has proved so successful in her previous novels...She captures the period impeccably...In The Beachcomber she is giving her fans exactly what they expect, a non-confrontational Heartbeat-style novel which is guaranteed to maintain her appeal.’ Express

Praise for Josephine Cox:

'Cox's talent as a storyteller never lets you escape the spell' Daily Mail

'Impossible to resist' Woman's Realm

'Driven and passionate' Sunday Times

'Irresistible storytelling' Books magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0061763314
• ISBN 13: 9780061763311
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432