Do you go with mind or heart?

Everyone is arguing, even me, who tends to sit quietly as better or more informed minds work out problems. There are arguments over everything at the moment.

It was, had been and still is, raining; the humped stones of the cobbled square slippery with the blustery torrents spewing rain and seawater into the square. The wind whipping between the old beige and red sandstone buildings, most, three stories high, that sheltered the town centre on three sides, the open side filled with an unremitting grey, reinforced concrete wall against which the sea beat with relentless fury, pouring tons of seawater in a spasmodic display of crashing breakers cresting the wall to spray salt water into the square with each wave, just for it to recede, drawing what it had left upon the slick lumpen square back through small recessed drains that bubbled and frothed with the force of the Winter tide.

The author smelled the salt in the air and a little wood smoke as he slithered upon the slippery cobble stones. The water turned dirty from the leaves mulched upon the stone and winter's gritting, splashed from the ruts between the stones staining his black leather patent shoes. He had hoped to make a good impression for his hosts but failed miserably due to the terrible weather.

A broken writer returns to a quiet seaside village, looking to kick-start his life and career and while there make good on a promise he barely remembered making. He becomes enamored of the bookshop and its history, particularly of the woman that brought writing and reading to the region, a strange, enigmatic beauty that seems to haunt him when he is there.

How do you say fantastic again and again? When It comes to Mr Walkers works I feel as though I am repeating myself. Beauty and perfect description in one tale. A wondrous work again from Raymond Walker. Marlee Macallman. The Book Review.

A novel, in these days when everyone writes, has to be more than just good words, a beautiful tale is required. This is it, a beautiful tale. This has all that you ever want in a novel. A simple story complicated by the weather and the wonderful, believable, characters. Add to that a beautiful setting and a possessive ghost. We are all set.

Ronan Williams. The National.