When thirty-four-year-old Nellie Wagstaff loses her job and discovers her fiancé is a cheating scumbag in a single day, she feels like the world has come crashing down. And that’s before the solicitor’s letter, along with a request to visit a place she hasn’t thought about for a very long time.
Heartbroken, Nellie escapes to the beautiful seaside town of Muddleford in Dorset, where she discovers she’s inherited more than she ever bargained for. Nellie never knew why her mother stopped talking to her sister, but now childhood memories of Muddleford come flooding back: long hot summers, the sea glistening beyond the sandy cove... and a stolen kiss with a boy called Jack.
Jack, now a devilishly handsome vet, has the local pet owners swooning over him, and as Nellie and he become close once more, and she gets used to gossiping with the locals and sipping wine at her beach hut with sand between her toes, she’s sure she can feel sparks flying once more. But just as she thinks she might be able to open her heart again, her newest frenemy, the glamourous Natalia, tells her a secret about Jack that changes everything.
Nellie will never know why her mother and aunt parted ways. She’ll sell the house, forget about Jack, and get back to real life. Because there’s nothing for her in Muddleford... is there?
An utterly uplifting and completely hilarious summer read about learning to trust yourself and of finding love and friendship in the least expected places for fans of Jessica Redland, Heidi Swain and Holly Martin.
Is Muddleford real or fictional?
Muddleford is based upon Mudeford in Dorset, which is a gorgeous place that we, as a family, spent many happy holidays.
Dad was a butcher with his own shop and Mom was a secretary who worked full time, then used to help him on a Saturday so we used to spend many of our school holidays with our wonderful Nan down at her sister’s house in Mudeford. Mom and Dad used to come down from the Midlands after the shop shut on a Saturday and go back late on Sunday night.
In those days, we couldn’t afford many holidays and certainly didn’t go abroad so visiting family was the way we enjoyed our time off. (Not sure they enjoyed it as much as we did – lol! I think if I had people descending on me all the time, it would drive me bonkers!)
Our aunt and uncle, were the posh ones in our family, who we were all very envious of because they lived in a lovely bungalow just a short walk from the beach and we spent many happy hours playing there. In fact last weekend, my sister found a lot of photos from when we were children on that very beach - Avon Beach in Mudeford - and we spent hours going through the photographs and laughing at us as kids – such happy memories.
It was that beach that inspired me to write about Aunty Lil having a beach hut. It’s such a lovely part of the world, with a wonderful quay where we went crabbing as kids. We would visit Christchurch, Highcliffe and Lymington and I honestly think that it was that part of the world that gave me my love of being by the sea.
The sea soothes me. I feel that it grounds me and fills my heart with joy. I could sit and watch the sea for hours. Perhaps it’s because of those wonderful memories that we made in Mudeford all those years ago. I like to think so.
I thought it was easier to create a fictional place rather than use the real place, because things would have changed so much and I like to remember it as it was.
The last time I went, was around six years ago and I have a picture somewhere of my son Ollie playing on the beach that I used to play on. I would absolutely love to visit again now that I’ve written Moonlight Over Muddleford Cove and if we get chance this year, I’m definitely up for a visit to that part of the world again.
Kim Nash - April 2021
Her latest book, Sunshine and Second Chances, was shortlisted for the 2020 Amazon Kindle Storyteller Award.
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