Front Page Fridays Week-6
Front Page Fridays Week-6
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-6. Every Friday I highlight a newly published book by showcasing the first page.
My Front Page Fridays Week-6 guest is Terri Nixon and her new book, The Mists of Pencarrack Moor.
Here’s the first page:
Dartmoor, Devon 1929
The morning that saw the mine closed down forever, and the village nearly destroyed, had started in the same, unremarkable way as countless others. A grey day in March; one of those bland days where there was no comment to make, except, perhaps, that it was a little overcast. Colin Damerel’s son had left for work at the local garage hours ago, his daughter had gone to school, and his wife was already elbow-deep in laundry in the outhouse. Damerel himself had embraced the peace and quiet and taken a second, leisurely cup of strong black coffee, before donning his coat and trudging down the hill to see if, by a miracle, his day would turn out to be as dull as the weather.
He doubted it.
The highly lucrative copper industry in the district had, by necessity, given way to the mining of arsenic, and after that it had been a slow but inevitable decline into decay, but Damerel had used that time shrewdly. With his knowledge and his experience, and with some smooth-talking to raise the loans he needed, he had become the proud owner of his own – admittedly small – tin mine near Peter Tavy, just north of Tavistock; Wheal Peter was proof, were it needed, that he’d been destined for better things from the beginning, and it had never failed to give Damerel a thrill of achievement to see his name painted on the sign at the front of the yard. Especially after the closure of the Devon Great Consols mine, to which he’d given his blood and his sweat, if not his tears.
But there was an ominous tension in the air, that had become increasingly hard to ignore over the past months, and today the cold faces that turned his way were devoid of the polite acknowledgements that usually greeted the arrival of any manager or mine captain, let alone the owner. Damerel shouldered his way through the throng of workers clustered outside the office, ignoring demands to stop and talk, and thanking the heavens that even those work-roughened men had more sense than to physically bar his way.
Safely in his office, with the door firmly shut between himself and the raised voices, he drew a shaking hand through his thinning hair and donned his helmet; it never hurt to remind the dissenters that he’d been one of them once, that he knew their troubles, understood their concerns, and was aware that changes needed to be made. But he also needed to remind them that those changes would cost money, and that the money would have to come from somewhere. It was fair to admit that he’d drawn on early mine profits to build his own impressive house, but if he didn’t show a prosperous face to the world, who would believe Wheal Peter was worth investing in? That writer, Wodehouse, had once had a story in one of the American magazines his wife enjoyed so much, and she’d read out a line to him: if you don’t speculate, you can’t accumulate. Words to live by.
The Mists of Pencarrack Moor by Terri Nixon.
Publication date: 21 March 2024. Piatkus Books.
About the Book
1931, Cornwall. Lynette Nicholls lost her brother exactly a year ago in a tragic air training accident. When she visits the coastal town where it happened, she begins to doubt everything she’s been told about the incident and becomes determined to uncover the truth.
Her investigation takes her deep into the community, where she meets Geordie Sargent, the leader of the miners’ dispute. When sparks fly between them, and Lynette is drawn into his fight, she risks losing everything.
Lynette knows she must choose between her love for Geordie and justice for her brother’s death. But, as her life becomes further entangled in the dangerous secrets of Pencarrack Moor, she starts to wonder if she still has the luxury of making that choice . . .
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mists-Pencarrack-Moor-Terri-Nixon-ebook/dp/B0CQNRCWMK
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Mists-Pencarrack-Moor-Terri-Nixon-ebook/dp/B0CQRJQS8J
Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-mists-of-pencarrack-moor/terri-nixon/9780349431697
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mists-of-pencarrack-moor-terri-nixon/1144329318
Also available in several audio formats, large print, and from all libraries.
About the Author
Terri was born in Plymouth in 1965. At the age of 9 she moved with her family to North Hill, Cornwall, a small village on the edge of Bodmin Moor, where she discovered a love of writing that has stayed with her ever since. She also discovered apple-scrumping, and how to jump out of a hayloft without breaking any bones, but no-one’s ever offered to pay her for doing those. Terri is the author of the Oaklands Manor Trilogy, the Lynher Mill Chronicles, the Penhaligon Saga, the Fox Bay Saga, and new series: Pencarrack, the second volume of which is due to be published in March 2024.
She has co-written with Shelley Clarke, as half of Clarke Nixon, 2 books in the Children of Sinai series. A third volume is currently in progress, and a release date will be announced soon. Terri also writes crime as R.D. Nixon, and is the author of the Clifford-Mackenzie Crime series, set in a small community in the Scottish Highlands. She is currently working on a brand new series, which is set in Devon and features the notorious Lyons and their extended family. She now lives in Plymouth again, and works in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business, at the University of Pymouth.
Social Media
X: https://twitter.com/nixonauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terri.nixon.page
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nixonauthor
Website: www.terrinixon.com
To find out how Terri became an author, read her post by clicking this link: How I Got Published by Terri Nixon – Rachel Sargeant
I hope you enjoyed Front Page Fridays Week-6. Come along next Friday for another.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant
Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby – Front Page Fridays Week-5 – Rachel Sargeant
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