Shallow Affairs - Nicky Osborne

A Novel Every Cornish Summer Has Been Waiting to Inspire

Shallow Affairs is a warm, witty and deeply observed debut novel - the kind that has you giggling on one page and catching you completely off guard on the next. Set against the sparkling coves of Fowey and the surf beaches of Polzeath, it is a story about desire, friendship, class and the exquisite complications that unfold when very different lives collide over one irresistible Cornish summer.

The characters in Shallow Affairs arrive carrying the full weight of their real lives - friendships under strain, marriages quietly unravelling, young women tasting freedom for the first time, and men utterly convinced that a little Cornish sunshine is all the excuse they need. Sharp with observation and alive with humour, the novel never flinches from the moments that truly matter - the ones that make you catch your breath, that bring unexpected tears, that remind you how deeply and completely Nicky Osborne understands the people she has created.

Nobody arrives intending to be changed. Nobody ever does. But secrets have a way of surfacing in the sunshine, and by the time summer ends, nothing and no one will be quite the same.

These are characters drawn from the full spectrum of Cornish life - those who have always belonged here, those who arrived one summer and quietly never left, and those who have been returning for years. Nicky Osborne writes them with such precision, warmth and emotional honesty that long after the final page is turned, they remain - their joys, their secrets and their heartbreaks woven into something that feels completely, unmistakably real.

Shallow Affairs is that rare thing - a novel that entertains completely and lingers beautifully. Much like a Cornish summer itself.

Perfect for fans of Jilly Cooper, Joanna Trollope, Fern Britton and Milly Johnson.