The Girl on the Cliff by Lucinda Riley

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This book

Extract
Synopsis
Reviews
Product details
Interview

About Lucinda Riley

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The Girl on the Cliff

» Lucinda Riley

Penguin
Paperback : 27 Oct 2011

£7.99

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Read an extract from: The Girl on the Cliff

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Synopsis

Could a secret from 1914 end a century of heartache?

A tiny figure stands at the cliff edge - hair flying in the breeze. Grania Ryan is hypnotised by the enchanting vision, unaware this young girl, Aurora Lisle, will change her life in countless ways. For Grania is suffering and has returned to Ireland and the arms of her loving family, in the hope her wounds might heal.

As their paths begin to entwine, Grania's mother becomes deeply troubled … because almost a century of entanglement has brought nothing but terrible tragedy to their two families.

The past is set to repeat its sorrows. A suitcase hidden in the attic of a magnificent house in London during the First World War is where it all began, but could it now hold the key to ending the heartbreak that has beset the Lisles and the Ryans for so long?

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Reviews

Customer Review: 26 October 2011

Reviewer: Brenda Human

'This extract has stimulated my appetite to read more of the Girls on the Cliff, well written, easy read and promises a whole lot of intrigue and surprises. Only problem I can''t seem to order it yet - seems it is not yet published ??'

Customer Review: 22 October 2011

Reviewer: Jo D'Arcy

'Lucinda Riley�s first book Hothouse Flower was excellent, her second surpasses that; something which many authors struggle to do. This is a book where its core theme is love both with the present story and the past story which is told to us by Aurora the girl on the cliff. Aurora opens the story telling us as a readers she is going to tell her story, that of the past and the present and the intervening years and she is going to tell it despite unhappy occurrences and struggles of her many relatives. Immediately Lucinda Riley has you hooked, as there is something ethereal not just about Aurora�s voice but also her character as the story starts to be told. Grania Ryan has escaped from her wonderful life in New York, walked out on her lifestyle, her sculpting career and her boyfriend after suffering a miscarriage. She does not tell her mother why she has returned to West Cork in Ireland but through her mother�s instinctive love she knows Grania needs protecting. Grania is stubborn and her pride is a strength which at moments in this story could easily become her downfall and was obviously one of the reasons she fled New York. Back across the Atlantic Matt the man she has left is struggling to work out what he has done and his story of love is scattered throughout the book until Aurora remarkably performs the denouement. Grania escaping from everything meets the girl on the cliff and a bond is formed so quickly and mysteriously that Grania�s mother Kathleen starts to worry even more as this attachment to each other has a place in the past that Kathleen would rather not visit. Then begins the story of the past, the story of war, of the domestic staff, of starting again with nothing but love and becoming something from nothing and the potential of losing it all. As the story unfolds for Grania (and us) the ties that bind Aurora and Grania through their families past come together, in fact Aurora now has a new history which suddenly explains the present and even the future. This book at over 500 pages long has packed in such a lot that you have to keep reading because once you think you have perhaps worked out how the links of the past come together you learn something else. It is packed with characters past and present who are all relevant to both Aurora and Grania, a family tree is provided but cleverly it comes at the point of the book where we believe we know everything there is to know and then the story is going to follow perhaps a common well written pattern. It does not and Lucinda Riley provides us with more storylines and paths to walk down with Aurora and Grania. As with Hothouse Flower, the writing is atmospherically eloquent. From the winds blowing on the Irish cliff tops to the dark days in wartime London you are transported there without effort. Even the houses which feature in the book, Dunworley House in Ireland, Cadogan House in London and the loft apartment in New York are uniquely described that you can know exactly where you are at any one point. The plot if I tried to break it down in a review would actually mean I gave it all away, that is the key to this book it has so much to offer. If you are a fan of romance, historical theme books, contemporary novels, fans of society and those upstairs and downstairs or a fan of all then this is the book you must read this autumn, in fact this is a book you just must read.'

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Interview

Will the printed word endure?
Yes. Without a doubt. For now...

Which newspaper do you read?
The Times

Who/What is your biggest influence?
My family

What books are you reading at the moment?
‘The German Boy’ by Patricia Wastvedt. ‘Mother’s Milk’ by Edward St Aubyn

What books did you read as a child?
Voraciously; Enid Blyton, Lorna Hill, Noel Streatfield

Which literary character would you most like to meet?
Jay Gatsby

Which authors do you most admire?
F.Scott Fitzgerald, Maupassant, The Brontes

Where/When do you do most of your writing?
Whenever my kids aren’t around... anytime, anywhere

What most surprised you during the writing process?
The way the characters take over and ruin a possible, projected plotline

How would you categorise your book?
A well-written page turner

If you could have written one book you haven’t, what would it be and why?
The Great Gatsby

Which of your novels are you most proud of, and why?
Probably The Girl on the Cliff. I forgot about the ‘rules’ and wrote from my heart

Finally, what advice would you give to a writer starting out on his or her career?
Once you begin, get to the end

Who or what always puts a smile on your face?
My kids

What’s your earliest memory?
Vomiting on a coach on the way to Naples at the age of three

Finally, what other writing projects are you working on?
The Light Behind the Window is finished. I’m in a beautiful hiatus of a couple of months before I write the second part of The Light trilogy

Did you have the entire plot in mind from the outset, or did the story develop as you wrote?
I set location and time period and the characters take it from there

How would you like to be remembered?
As a good person, who wrote the odd great story

Have you always wanted to write?
I trained as a ballet dancer. Then I got bed-ridden and instead of talking with my body, I had to use my mind to express myself

Are any of your characters based on real people?
If they are, I’m saying nothing...

How do you spoil yourself?
Dinner with my husband, at home, sans cinq enfants – heaven!

What's your favourite word?
Rosé

What makes you angry?
Injustice, laziness and negativity

Have you ever had any other jobs apart from writing?
Actress, toilet roll rep, mother, insurance saleswoman, ballerina, wholefoods, womenswear and off-licence shop assistant, Coca Cola promoter, professional perfume sprayer... I could go on...

When was the last time you cried?
Probably this morning. I cry at anything

What kind of experience do you want your reader to have?
I want them to cry

Have you even done something you’ve really regretted?
Of course, but I’m not saying what...

What are you proudest of?
My fantastic kids, by a mile...