Aunt Sarah Anne stories take a loving look at the way we used to be

While the many fans of Newlyn author and storyteller Liz Harman will be familiar with the voice of the indomitable Aunt Sarah Anne, they will now be able to put a face to that voice.

Aunt Sarah Anne, a character created by Liz but based on her own mother, features in a number of stories in her books of Cornish tales, Now 'Ark To Me and Now 'Ark Some More.

In Now 'Ark To Aunt Sarah Anne, her latest volume dedicated to the outspoken lady's musings, illustrator Steph Haxton has evocatively given her a physical personality. And not only to that of Aunt Sarah Anne but also to her extremely good-natured husband Alfred.

A natural born storyteller, one who writes and speaks with the authentic voice of her native Newlyn, for maximum enjoyment and entertainment Liz Harman's stories need to be read aloud. While she wisely refrains from overdoing the dialect, this may still be difficult for readers born east of the Tamar (Mr Cameron's Amazon!).
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One of the nine tales that make up the book is entitled Aunt Sarah Anne Says Things Ed'n What They Used To Be, and this could very well be its subtitle because both Aunt Sarah Anne and Alfred are from another age and their views and opinions of the people, places and things they talk about have changed so much, in some cases all but vanished, that they are inevitably tinged with regret.

Their walks and talks down memory lane, however, are saved from being maudlin or morbid by their sense of humour. A couple who recognise and appreciate the funny side of most situations, they also have the ability to laugh at themselves which adds enormously to their likeability. Everything, especially of the everyday kind, is grist to Aunt Sarah Anne's good-humoured mill, from the inconvenience of last winter's snow and ice to romance and "proper Valentine cards". She discovers the delights of hugging a tree and feeling the earth throb and encounters the problems of cooking either a crab or a chicken.

Great humour is derived from an unexpected gale of wind at Newlyn Fish Festival, while there are also memories of Bonfire Night long before Health and Safety raised its ugly head to spoil it all.

And that's not forgetting the final poignant story. Ostensibly about the changes in carol singing and the inability of so many of today's youngsters to sing anything other than "We wish you a Merry Christmas", it also looks at the sad side of the festive season and in particular December 1981, when all hands on the Penlee lifeboat and those on the Union Star they were trying to save were lost.

A Bard of the Cornish Gorsedd whose Bardic name "Nedhores Hwedhlow" or "Spinner of Tales", the nine delightful tales Liz Harman spins here are as tasty and traditionally Cornish as pasties and pilchards. Dedicated to Rene and Jan – the original Aunt Sarah Anne and Alfred who, were they here now would surely love it, her new book is an all-Cornish publication.

Now 'Ark To Aun t Sarah Anne by Liz Harman with illustrations by Steph Haxton is printed by Headland of Penzance and published by Scryfa of Linkinhorne at £4.

It is available from local book shops or direct from the author by writing to: Liz Harman, 25 New Road, Newlyn, Penzance, Cornwall TR18 5PZ.

article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS