(my) Favourite Coastal Reads

coastal beach books
 

Here is a list of our favourite coastal books and beach reads. These are true feel-good reads that remind us all that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

 
The Salt Path

The Salt Path

by Raynor Winn

The uplifting true story of the couple who lost everything and embarked on a journey of salvation across the windswept South West coastline.

The Salt Path is an honest and life-affirming true story of coming to terms with grief and the healing power of the natural world. It is a portrayal of home, and how it can be lost, rebuilt and rediscovered in the most unexpected ways.

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Available here

The Wild Silence

The Wild Silence

By Raynor Winn

The Wild Silence is a luminous story of hope triumphing over despair, of the human spirit's instinctive connection to nature, and of lifelong love prevailing over everything.

Uplifting, inspiring and heartening, the perfect gift for anyone who loved The Salt Path; one of the most talked about books of the decade.

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Available here

Dark Salt Clear

Dark, Salt, Clear

By Lamorna Ash

A captivating, lyrical and deeply discerning portrait of life in the Cornish town of Newlyn, the largest working fishing port in Britain, from a brilliant debut writer.

An evocative journey of personal discovery replete with the poetry and deep history of our fishing communities, Dark, Salt, Clear confirms Lamorna Ash as a strikingly original new voice.

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Available here

 
The Summer Book

The Summer Book

By Tove Jansson

The Summer Book is a fresh, vivid and magical novel about seemingly endless summers of discovery. Telling the story of an island summer in the life of a six-year-old and her grandmother, Tove Jansson’s beautiful, breezy novel is a frank and tranquil tale of companionship.

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Available here

Image Credit: IMDB

The Sea Around Us

Rachel Carson

Originally published in 1951, The Sea Around Us is one of the most influential books ever written.

Carson's book provides a timely reminder of both the fragility and the centrality of the ocean and the life that abounds within it. Anyone who loves the sea, or who is concerned about our natural environment, will want to read, or re-read, this classic work.

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Available here

Image Credit: IMDB

By the Sea

Dr Deborah Cracknell

Environmental psychology is the study of how the natural environment makes us feel, think and behave, and scientists in this area are discovering the tangible benefits of breathing in the fresh sea air.

In this stunning book, intuition and instinct meet modern science as the therapeutic benefits of being in, on or by the sea are explained and explored, and how, if we look after the oceans they will look after us.

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Available here

 
A Cornish Summer

A Cornish Summer

Catherine Alliott

The perfect feel-good read about family, love and secrets.

Flora's been in love with her husband for twenty years. The trouble is, he's been married to someone else for the past fifteen… Now she's been invited to spend the summer in the sandy coves of Cornwall, which should be blissful. And then her ex-husband shows up out of the blue, complete with his new wife… Can Flora spend the summer playing happy families with the woman who stole her husband's heart, and the mother-in-law who might have had a hand in it?

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Available here

Beneath Cornish Skies

Beneath Cornish Skies

Kate Ryder

A beautiful romance with a hint of ghostliness, Beneath Cornish Skies is for anyone who has ever longed to start their lives again.

Cassandra has always been riddled with insecurities and self-doubt, but, just for once, she decides to take a chance on a new beginning. She answers an advert for a live-in nanny, dogwalker, cook and all-round 'Superhuman' for a family living in a rambling manor house on the rugged North Cornish coast. As Cassie learns to connect with the natural beauty unfolding around her, Cornwall starts to offer up its secrets.

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Available here

The Cove

The Cove

LJ Ross

Suspense and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced thriller, set amidst the spectacular Cornish landscape.

Gabrielle Adams has it all – brains, beauty, a handsome fiancé, and a dream job in publishing. Until, one day, everything changes.

Gabrielle soon learns that being a survivor is harder than being a victim, and she struggles to return to her old life. Desperate to break free from the endless nightmares, she snatches up an opportunity to run a tiny bookshop in a picturesque cove in rural Cornwall.

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Available here

 
 
Elke Bretz