1917: DH Lawrence and his German wife Frieda have taken refuge in Cornwall, in Zennor, surrounded by local mistrust and vilification. The sickening anxieties of the First World War cause upset and difficulty even in rural communities far from the metropolis, as more and more men from the village are called up and disappear to fight, and people feel tense and suspicious. Clare Coyne and her extended family live in Zennor too, and it is Clare's story and her short love affair with her cousin that is most fully narrated.
Cornwall itself, and its coastal landscape, are poetically described, as are certain relationships: that between Clare and her cousins, her father, DH Lawrence and Frieda. This might be an imaginary story, despite having elements of fact in the narrative concerning the Lawrences, but it seems a very true one. This story shows us lives often difficult, challenging,tedious and impoverished too: but described with tenderness, subtlety and delicacy.
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