‘Did she?’

‘Yes, she did. And when we explained what had happened, she said that she wished she’d known you better when her mother was killed, because you would have helped her like no one else could.’ He felt again the tears that had been threatening all day, and this time he didn’t fight them. ‘Take a lesson from Dickens, Archie. You can’t change the past, but the future doesn’t have to be full of ghosts as well.’

They walked on in silence as the steep climb up to the castle took its toll. ‘Talking of brighter futures, I thought we might move on to Loe House tomorrow,’ Archie said. ‘After lunch, when all the formalities here are dealt with. How does that sound?’

‘Like all our Christmases have come at once,’ Josephine said. ‘We thought you’d never ask.’

293

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

When I sat down to write about a beautiful island, cut off by extreme circumstances, I could have had no idea that – within the space of a few months – St Michael’s Mount would indeed be isolated from the mainland, its causeway eerily deserted in the wake of another international crisis. As I write these acknowledgements, the island has just reopened to the public, with the castle shortly to follow, and I wish everyone who lives and works there a safe and happy future. There really is nowhere quite like it. Today, St Michael’s Mount is managed in a unique partnership by the St Aubyn family and the National Trust, and you can find out more at www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk.

I’m extremely grateful to Lord and Lady St Levan, James and Mary St Aubyn, for taking the time to talk to me about the Mount’s history and their personal experiences of looking after such a special place, and for showing me parts of the castle normally closed to the public. I will never forget my climb to the top of the church tower to see St Michael’s Chair, although not even a desire to make this book as authentic as possible could persuade me to sit on it.

This novel is also indebted to the time and generosity of Stephen Mathews, whose family has lived on St Michael’s Mount for generations, and who gave me a wonderful insight into the unique life of an islander. Other accounts of the Mount by Sir John St Aubyn, Joan Wake, Diana Hartley, Jane Mason 294and Barbara Steer provided valuable additional information on the island’s legends and history. The Butler’s Guide by Fiona St Aubyn and former castle butler Stanley Ager contains wonderful memories of entertaining in the 1930s as well as a useful guide to the etiquette of house parties.

The Honourable Hilaria St Aubyn left her home at the Mount on her father’s death in 1940, but is remembered there to this day with great respect and affection. An intrepid traveller, she was admired for her charitable work, and loved for her kindness. She died in 1983, aged eighty-eight.

The Mount was promised by Hitler to Joachim Von Ribbentrop, who often visited Cornwall during his time as German Ambassador to Britain. Andrew Lanyon’s Von Ribbentrop in St Ives gives a fascinating account of those years. I’m sorry that the scope of this book didn’t allow me to do full justice to Marlene Dietrich’s courageous and spirited war work, but I hope it shows a woman who was perhaps even more remarkable off screen than she was on it. There are brilliant accounts of a long life, well lived, in Dietrich’s autobiography, My Life, and in her daughter’s book, Marlene Dietrich: The Life by Maria Riva.