The Camomile Lawn

The Camomile Lawn

First edition (UK)
Author	Mary Wesley
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Publisher	Macmillan (UK) Summit Books (US)
Publication date	29 March 1984
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	304 pp
ISBN
OCLC	59093668

The Camomile Lawn is a 1984 novel by Mary Wesley about a family holiday in Cornwall in the last summer of peace before World War II. When the family are reunited for a funeral nearly fifty years later, it brings home to them how much the war acted as a catalyst for their emotional liberation. The title refers to a fragrant camomile lawn stretching down to the cliffs in the garden of their aunt's house.

Mary Wesley first began writing The Camomile Lawn after the death of her second husband left her destitute. She finished writing it in 1983, and was convinced to publish it by her editor James Hale. Parts of the book were based on Mary Wesley's early life. The house in Cornwall was based on Boskenna, the seat of the Paynter family, where Wesley stayed as a child. After a coast guard fell to his death near Boskenna, Wesley suspected foul play and created a fictionalised version for her novel. Like Polly, Wesley worked for military intelligence during World War II. The character of Oliver was based on her former boyfriend Lewis Clive while Max was based on Paul Ziegler (brother of Heinz Otto Ziegler), one of her friends whose parents died in The Holocaust. Additionally, Mary Wesley's sister quarrelled with her over the depiction of Helena and Richard Cuthbertson in the book, as she believed that they were based on their parents.

In August 1939, Oliver, Calypso, Polly and Walter are visiting their Aunt Helena and Uncle Richard Cuthbertson, and their 10-year-old cousin Sophy who has been taken in by Helena and Uncle Richard. They are often visited by the twin sons of the local rector, as well as by Max and Monika, a Jewish refugee couple from Austria, whose only son, Pauli, is in a concentration camp, and who have been taken in by the rector. Young Sophy is delighted with the arrival of her cousins, especially Oliver. She is determined to run 'The Terror Run', a cliff path that the cousins race along at full moon, along with the grown ups. However, during a daylight practice run, the local coastguard exposes himself to her.