A Midwinter's Tail by Lili Hayward

Publisher – Sphere

Published – Out Now

Price – £14.99 hardback £2.99 Kindle eBook

A town in need.
An extraordinary cat.
A season for miracles...

It's nearly Christmas and committed Londoner, Mina Kestle, is close to signing a deal that will make her career and give her everything she's ever wanted. And then she receives a mysterious letter in the post along with an ancient key, sent by her long-estranged godfather . . .

Davy Penhallow is an artist who lives on the tiny Cornish island of Morgelyn with only his pet cat, Murr, for company. Mina hasn't seen or heard from him in decades, but now it seems he wants her to look after his cottage - and his cat - while he recovers from a stroke in hospital. Mina doesn't know why Davy has written after all these years, but she intends to do what's right: sort out the cottage and the cat and then get back to London in time for her career-saving meeting, before everything she's built comes crashing down around her.

But the more time Mina spends in the cottage, looking after Murr and remembering the magic of Cornish folklore, the harder it becomes for her to tear herself away. And when she discovers that a set of ruthless property developers are coming for Morgelyn, she realises she might be the only one who can stand in their way to save the island, Davy's cottage and Murr's home.

As Christmas draws ever closer and echoes of the past - her own and the island's - wash up in her memory, Mina begins to unravel a generation of secrets... and discover what it is she has truly always wanted . . .

The perfect magical read to cosy up with on chilly winter nights...

With Halloween over there is a sense of a period that bar regular reminders of Christmas lacks perhaps joy. The nights are longer, the days are colder, and we tend to hunker down. The dark as they say is rising and we need to find ways to turn it back. Bright lights, good deeds and being kind tend to help us and in Lili Hayward’s absolutely heart-warming A Midwinter’s Tail, we have a charming seasonal tale of doing the right thing, finding your place in the universe and a rather bewitching cat.

Mina is 28 and works in the world of business. Its not quite what she wants to do but its what is expected of her, and she may just be about to do a deal that allows her to keep her job even if this means working her days off. But then she finds a note with a key attached from her estranged godfather Davy with the only words ‘Mina – Please look after her’. She discovers Davy is ill in hospital and decides to make her way immediately to the isle of Morgelyn off Cornwall for the first time in twenty years. Mina is expected to look after a remote cottage and that includes Murr a cat that knows what it wants and strangely resembles the cat of her childhood …and the cat of local legend that guards this island. Mina finds herself under suspicion from locals and must unpick what is going on with this island and the ties it has to her own family’s history.

This flowing story is an example of beautiful storytelling. Hayward has created a story that has a depth made of local legends, ancient and recent history and Mina’s present-day story of sorting out Davy’s request and her own life. We tend to think of winter tales being historical but pleasingly this is a modern-day story with links to the past and that gives the story a freshness rather than a bit of cosy seasonal Victoriana. We get an interesting character in Mina who is a woman trying to decide what she wants to do next in her life; pressured by work and her father to follow a certain corporate path and yet still carries memories of art and nature when she spent precious time with her much-missed mother on Morgelyn – but those are memories in her eyes soured when Davy cut off contact with her with no explanation. It’s a really effective mystery that plays out in unexpected ways and here Mina finding out the key information is a really powerful and emotional plotline.

With Morgelyn we get a charming location being a mix of the modern with gay characters; women in key roles and it rebels against the dated cosy quaint idea of a Cornish Village you may find on an ITV drama and instead it feels warm, fresh and interesting; with the key battle Mina finds herself having to decide which side to take. It’s a decidedly modern plotline with things to say about local communities and Hayward works hard to make us care about these people we’ve never met before and hope that the light prevails. For which alongside Mina we also have a rather powerful cat to deal with.

A rich theme in the story is centred around Murr – a bossy sweet cat. They take our attention whenever they appear with no words being spoken but intriguingly there are moments when we see Murr may have a much deeper connection to the island and its history, little legends that just so happen to feature a grey cat; the way the residents respect Murr and that Mina finds she suddenly gets glimpses of a past that she was completely unaware of. We on top of that get interludes of the stories that Davy told Mina and it adds all sorts of depth and texture that though just a few hundred pages long makes us feel that this is but one part of a much bigger story and I really do praise Hayward’s use of nature, imagery and language this is a tale that flows with style.

There is room for more stories for this island which I’d love to return to but for readers looking for a warm drink of a book that has a touch seasonal goodness, rich in flavour and a lovely cat shaped biscuit on top! This is the book I’d want to get comfy with on a cold winter night – to be fair I did, and it was a lovely reading experience! Strongly recommended!