The Cottage on Winter Moss: A dual timeline novel with a literary twist

This author writes stories set in the Regency Era, the World Wars and modern day time periods, all with éclat. This particular story takes place over many decades, providing a nice smorgasbord of English history for the reader. The characters and their predicaments are believable, which is paramount in my estimation, and the descriptions are so well-wrought that I didn't need pictures to envision the world they inhabited. There is a touch of the preternatural to the story, just enough to pique interest without forcing one to abandon their sense of reality. Excellent book, highly recommended.

Wow! Wow! Wow! This is the first book I've read by this author but it won't be my last for sure! It had everything I look for in a great book: So well written -- parts were like poetry in their lyrical quality; great, real characters that you really want to know; amazing, mysterious setting, almost Gothic in description; suspense in both the timelines, current and past; great crescendo right up to the satisfying ending; a book within a book and so much info about writing and the process; and just the right amount of romance! I wish I could give it 10 stars. I can't wait to jump into the next of Allie Cresswell's novels -- I don't plan to be disappointed.

As with her previous novels, Allie Creswell sensitively evokes a sense of place through her beautiful descriptions of nature and landscape. She lifts rainy winter days on the Cumbrian seacoast into the realms of poetry.
Place is very important in this novel. The cottage in the title is important, but the tale is also anchored around two specific landmarks: a ruined, abandoned stone tower and a beautiful old tree called the Trysting Tree. The main character, a young writer named Dee, comes across these landmarks in a remote Cumbrian village and finds herself compelled to write a novel about four generations of two local families. Ultimately, the novel Dee writes comes alive in more ways than one; the secrets, loves, and losses of the past reverberate in the present day and collide with Dee's own life.
By starting the story with Dee's escape from an unhealthy relationship in London, Cresswell raises the possibility that her heroine might have very poor judgment when it comes to men. This helps build the suspense when two love rivals compete for her attention in Cumbria.
I found Dee to be an interesting and sympathetic character. I particularly loved Cresswell's descriptions of Dee's creative process; the hours spent hunched over the keyboard, losing all track of time, the fitful excursions to wander around the beach and the woods with her faithful dog. Becoming a near-hermit in an old cottage on the seacoast would be a dream come true for many writers, but Dee also struggles with loneliness and the sadness of being alienated from a beloved brother. I like the way Cresswell balances Dee's love life with the story of her own journey of self-discovery and independence.
Cresswell skillfully blurs the lines between fiction and reality with a touch of the supernatural. She includes an epilogue showing her real-life inspirations for a story where fiction becomes real life and real life feels like fiction. This is a big, complicated story but it is so well woven together. A story to be savoured while curled up under a crocheted blanket with a hot beverage, preferably on a rainy day.