Two young, recently widowed mothers try to find a way to survive in war-scarred Britain. Kirstine and her German friend, Gerdy, lost their husbands at the end of the Second World War. They find themselves penniless, without any extended family support, each with two very young children and with scant prospects of earning a living.
A great deal of determined initiative is needed. The stakes are high with chaos threatening them at every step. The two women find a de-requisitioned building in seaside Devon. They transform it into a family hotel, which eventually becomes renowned for its excellent cuisine.
This enchanting story, told with a lightness of touch, moves from tragedy, to comedy, to triumph and back again.
Kirstine Richards née Rasmussen was born in Edinburgh to a Danish father, Christian Rasmussen, and Hilda Hill-Jones, on 14th March 1912, whose mother was Mary Ann McNair.
She attended Edinburgh School of Art for one year, until her father died and the fees could no longer be paid. Life with her eccentric mother became intolerable. Fortunately an aunt came to the rescue and Kirstine moved to Devon, where she worked as a poorly paid designer at the Honiton Pottery.
Subsequently Kirstine opened a café on Honiton High Street, called the ‘Highland Fling’ and it served excellent coffee and homemade cakes; making it very popular. She met her future husband, Gerald Arthur Richards; a young medical student from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, at the ‘Highland Fling’.
Their two children, Nicholas and Louanne, were born during the 2nd World War and their father, Gerry, was accidentally wounded in Burma and died at Imphal on the 23rd January 1945.
Kirstine, now a widow with two young children, had to find a way of earning a living. She and Gerdy Ramsay, who was also a widow and mother of two, together established a family hotel; ‘The Seagull’ in Exmouth in South Devon. The hotel opened in 1945.
In 1959 Kirstine moved on from being a hotelier to becoming the case worker at the newly formed Agnostic Adoption Society, which was later to become the Independent Adoption Society.
On retirement, she went to live near her cousin in the South of France, where she rented a small house; paying for her keep by hosting summer guests. A secondary breast cancer made her decide to move back to England, where she found an apartment at Queen Alexandra’s Court in Wimbledon; an attractive establishment for the widows of officers who had served in the forces.
Kirstine died at St. Raphael’s hospice in London on the 25th February 1989.
Reader Reviews...
Review by Richard Moss The Seagull Hotel offers a fascinating, moving and heart-warming first hand account of the struggles of two young mothers widowed during World War II. Told with candour and humour we hear about the conditions at the time and about the characters who worked at the hotel, and those who were guests. How would you turn a semi-derelict building into a thriving business when just getting hold of linen, furniture and food needed a special sort of daring and guile?
Review by Jane Dunbar
A truly inspiring book. A story of perseverance in the face of amazing difficulties., in which the author manages to infuse one disaster after another with humour.
Oh how I enjoyed it.
Amazon review by Mrs Rivers
I have just romped through The Seagull Hotel in 3 sittings- I loved it!
What a very special woman Kirstine was, so full of determination, courage and enthusiasm, undaunted, it seems by anything.
Reading her story, she emerges as a precursor to 60’s feminism; widowed towards the end of WW2, mother of two small children with virtually no money, she navigates a path through what was then very much a man’s world of bankers and builders, discovering en route the thrills and spills of the black market in order to beat the post-war rationing system. With her friend Gerdy, also a young widow with children, she battles to establish The Seagull Hotel not just as a viable business but also as a loving home for the two families. What could have been just another drab seaside hotel on the English coast develops into a truly creative enterprise and becomes widely known for its excellent gourmet food.
This splendid book is a hymn and testament to these two young women who refused to let misfortune, or men, get the better of them but don’t get the idea that it is in any way heavy going or gloomy. It is written with a lightness of touch, masses of humour - I laughed till I cried over the chapter about her mother - and, above all, humanity.
Amazon review by nettiek50
This is a beautifully written memoir
About two young widows struggling in a male dominated post war era.
A very easy and enlightening read. Parts of Exmouth remain the same to this day.
When you have produced the final draft of your book, it is always advisable to have the text read and checked by a professional editor or proof reader.
You may have friends that are willing and competent to do this and we can advise you on the type of editing that is required.
We can offer four levels of editing as well as proof-reading.
You choose which, if any, are appropriate in your case: 1. Edit of sample pages and short report (£30)
We will edit a few pages to highlight editorial issues so that you can look for similar problems throughout the book.
This will reduce the amount of further copy-editing required when the book is finished. 2. Broad structural editing and criticism (£5 per thousand words)
A structural review is particularly relevant for works of fiction.
The structural reviewer will address the following main areas and produce a short report for the author ” Read More 3. Copy editing (£10 per thousand words)
A copy-editor takes a close look at your text, line by line, with an eye to grammatical errors, repetition, inconsistency and lack of clarity. The copy editor will make changes to the text, with suggestions for rewriting, grammar, and punctuation. When you receive the edited version, you have the final choice about accepting of rejecting the individual changes. 4. Proof Reading (£8 per thousand words)
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication. Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself. 5. Consistency Scan
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we offer an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies. This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling and inconsistencies of hyphenation and capitalisation.
We can also identify inconsistencies in the spelling of proper names. 6. Cover text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we can work with you to make sure that these are correct and effective.
Copy Edit
Copy-editors get the raw material into shape for publication i.e they edit the copy.
When they have finished, the designer can lay out or typeset the book and produce a proof.
It is quite normal for the author to make additional changes after a book has been copy-edited.
Working through the material, the copy-editor may identify errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, style and usage, but also very long sentences and overuse of italic, bold, capitals and exclamation marks.
They should correct or query doubtful facts, weak arguments, plot holes and gaps in numbering.
In fiction, they should also check that characters haven’t changed their name or hair colour, look for sudden changes from first to third person among other things.
The Copy-editor is not a proof reader and should not be expected to find all of the errors in the text particularly if the text is badly written to start with.
This is the job of the proof reader.
The final proof should be checked by a proof reader or an experienced reader friend before going to print.
It is almost inevitable (and acceptable) to miss a few errors which can be corrected in a later edition.
Proof Reading
Proof reading is a line-by-line check that the book is ready for publication.
Proof readers will make small corrections for punctuation, grammar and spelling but they will not make significant changes to the text.
A proof reader will identify any significant issues and add comments to the text so that you can make those corrections yourself.
If you have decided to complete this stage of the process yourself, we will send a detailed check-list to help you.
We ask you to try and ensure that the book is completely ready before we start the layout.
Once the layout has started, we expect that you might want to to make a small number of amendments but
if there are a significant number, we may need to charge for the extra time it takes to change the layout
so best to discuss this with us first.
Structural Review
In fiction, the main areas that a structural editor will address are:
Plot: Does the plot make sense? Is it believable? Is it satisfying or does it leave the reader frustrated? Themes: Are the themes effectively handled? Are there so many that the book lacks focus? Do they interfere with the plot or complement it?
Characterisation: Are your characters well developed and believable? Are they cast in a role that fits their personality? Do they sometimes behave out of character? Point of view/voice: Is the voice consistent or is it sometimes confused? Is the voice authentic? Are you using too many or too few POVs? Pace: Does the plot move forward at an appropriate pace? Should you cut that preface? Should the action happen sooner or should the tension build more slowly? Dialogue: Do your characters sound real when they speak? Is your dialogue cluttered with adverbs and beats? Do you use clunky dialogue to move the plot forward? Flow: Is the narrative interrupted by dead-ends and tangents? Is there so much back story that the main plot is dwarfed? Are there missing plot points that would give the narrative greater integrity?
In non-fiction, the principle is the same, but the specific issues are slightly different:
Thesis: Is your thesis relevant? Is it clearly defined or is it lost among marginal issues? Exposition: Are your arguments clear and cogent? Are they well researched and properly supported? Do they have a clear relationship with your thesis? Content: Are all the necessary topics sufficiently dealt with? Are the chapters weighted correctly? Is there superfluous content? Organisation: Is the information organised logically? Are tables and illustrations used appropriately? How many levels of subheads do you need and how should they be arranged? Tone: Is the tone appropriate for the audience? Do you need to eliminate jargon? Is the text accessible? Pace: Are there passages that are bogged down in detail? Do you spend too long on detail irrelevant to the main thesis? Are there areas that need further exposition lest they be skipped over?
Cover Text
The quality of the text on the cover is very important as it indicates the quality of the writing in the book.
The title, sub-title and back-cover blurb are all important elements and we work with you to make sure that these are as effective as possible.
Consistency check
If you decide your book doesn’t need a full proof reading, we can run an electronic scan to search for common errors and inconsistencies.
This looks at issues such as inconsistent spelling, hyphenation and capitalisation.
It also checks for consistent formatting of numbers and dates as well as undefined abbreviations.
Subsequent Script Edit
It is very normal and generally beneficial for the script-editing process to go through at least a couple of cycles
i.e. the rewritten draft to be worked through once again by an experienced script practitioner – though this would be entirely at the discretion and behest of the writer.
Full Script Edit
The script that you deliver to us will probably constitute what the industry would classify as the ‘Initial Rough Draft’, i.e. a full screenplay written without any other professional input or advice, and probably without a great deal of rewriting. We work through your draft, line by line, scene by scene, and come back to you with a comprehensive set of notes from which you can then work towards the official ‘1st Draft’. Some of our notes will be broad and general, dealing with such areas as the overall shape and structure, pacing, plot and character development; others will be far more specific, with corrections, clarifications and suggested cuts etc. It is of course entirely up to you whether or not to take these suggestions on board, and to what extent.
Ongoing Support
We aim to make your self-publishing venture an enjoyable and rewarding experience.
Publishing is a complex business and we treat every book as a separate project.
We explain all of the stages at the outset and we manage the project schedule for you. This will include all of the expert services you have requested for editorial, design, printing, distribution and collection of royalties, keeping in close contact with you throughout the process.
You will be allocated a project-sheet on the YouCaxton website so that you can monitor progress and ensure that all stages are properly completed.
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