- Print Length: 203 pages
- Publication Date: April 8, 2020
- Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC
- Language: English
When Maisie accepts a celebrated author’s invitation to mentor her, she finds herself leaving Cornwall behind on train tracks bound for the glitter city of Paris. Instead of making beds and serving coffee at the Penmarrow hotel in Cornwall, she’s making notes on her manuscript while sitting in a French cafe, meeting famous writers at private dinner parties, and trying to ferret the secrets behind the author’s unfinished future novel. It’s glamorous, it’s breathtaking … but it’s also an ocean channel away from the place that she loves, and, more importantly, the person to whom she just recently confessed her deepest feelings. Separated from Sidney by distance and circumstances, Maisie fears that their connection will be lost despite her words to him – and maybe because of those words, and the ones she didn’t allow him to say in return.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of things in her new life trying to distract her – the professional editor hired to critique her novel, the eager young literary agent who sees pie-in-the-sky potential for Maisie’s talent, but Maisie finds solace in the eclectic group of amateur writers into whose midst she finds herself by accident. Their critique and advice is fast becoming as important as the editors – maybe even more important than the published author Maisie believed held the keys to refining her skill.
But it’s missing Sidney that fills Maisie’s thoughts the most, along with her life back in Port Hewer, and she can’t stop wondering whether his feelings are the same as her own. His unspoken answer has become one of the most important pieces of her life, even as she struggles to match the pace of her new life and keep her dreams in sight. And when she unwittingly becomes privy to a seeming literary conspiracy, she must decide what to do in light of its truth – and decide what’s most important in her quest to become a professional writer.
Join Maisie in a whirlwind tour across two of the world’s greatest cities, filled with questions, dreams, and a chance for fame that she believed far beyond her grasp, as she discovers herself as a writer, and how to embrace an unexpected future on her own terms.
PLEASE ENJOY AN EXTRACT
Extract from A
Train from Penzance to Paris
A huge thank you to Jasmine for letting me share
an extract of my latest novella with her readers! It is the fifth book in my
series about amateur writer Maisie Clark, who works as a chambermaid at an
idyllic hotel by the Cornish sea. In this latest installment, though, Maisie is
on a whirlwind tour of Paris and London with a famous author who has agreed to
become her writing mentor. The scene below finds Maisie longing to hear from
Sidney Daniels, the handsome village groundskeeper who stole her heart back in
the Cornish village of Port Hewer.
Sidney had no phone, nothing but a post office
address for mail. Missing him like crazy made me desperate enough to dial
Dean's number, after holding the phone in my hand and debating whether it was a
good idea or a bad one. Sidney's friend was temperamental at the best of times,
and he and I were hardly close. Would he like receiving a random phone call
from me, or would he simply be annoyed? I could always say I called to share
what little gossip I had gathered on book number four. He had read Alistair
Davies' novels, all three of them as I surmised by his bookshelf. That seemed
like a good excuse.
"Hello?" It was Dean's voice on the
line and not one of his nurses. He must have answered it using the speakerphone
activation designed for his disability. The sound of his voice felt like a
little piece of home, though I was no more a native of Port Hewer than he was.
It was just the way its familiarity made my heart feel.
"Dean? It's Maisie," I said. "I'm
calling you from Paris to say hello."
A pause. I wondered if Dean was thinking how odd
it was for me to call him. "I'm flattered," he said at last, though
dryly.
"You remember me — the girl with the daisy
in her hair, whom Sidney was always dragging over to your cottage?" I
asked, jokingly. "I know I'm not the most fascinating person on the
planet, but I thought I made a better impression on you than that."
"Of course. That very annoying girl who
watched childish Christmas specials on telly," he answered. This was
Dean's usual manner of joking, with just a bit of meanness in it. "I
presume you planned to do more than remind me you existed?"
"Maybe I just called to be annoying."
I waited to see how this joke fared with him.
"I see. And I made the mistake of thinking
you called to tell me about life in Paris. Otherwise it seemed hardly to be
worth the trouble of dialing my number internationally." I heard the soft
whir of his motorized wheelchair.
I told him about Alistair's slow simmer for book
four's creation, and about the paintings I had seen in the Musee d'Orsay, the
beautiful stained glass at the Brasserie Printemps. Things and places I knew
that as an artist he must have seen, too. Maybe he would enjoy explaining their
history to someone as ignorant of it as I was.
All the time, I gathered my courage and waited
for the right moment to bring up a question that was on the tip of my tongue
the whole time.
"Are you alone, or is Sidney there with
you?" I asked. I had deliberately chosen an hour when I knew Callum would
be out shopping, increasing the chances that Sidney would stop by. "If so,
I'd like to say hello to him."
Silence on the other end. I held my breath. I
could hear the murmur of a voice talking in the background, which proved Dean
was not alone. I couldn't be sure, but I thought it was Sidney's I heard,
though my mind could be playing tricks on me. Wanting to hear something that
wasn't there.
I heard Dean's breathing, his voice close to the
phone again. "I'm afraid you've missed him, Maisie," said Dean.
"When I see him, I'll tell him you send your regards, if you like."
I could tell he was feigning his nonchalance —
in short, that he was lying. "Of course." I tried not to sound
disappointed, though I was. "Tell him I miss him."
"I will." There was nothing more left
for either of us to say after that.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:
Laura Briggs is the author of several feel-good romance reads, including the Top 100 Amazon UK seller 'A Wedding in Cornwall'. She has a fondness for vintage style dresses (especially ones with polka dots), and reads everything from Jane Austen to modern day mysteries. When she's not writing, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, caring for her pets, gardening, and seeing the occasional movie or play.
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