OUT FOR THE COUNTY
Rivals Cornwall and Devon square up
THE southwest counties of Devon and Cornwall are famed for their rivalry over which one has the correct cream tea. And now the two are at loggerheads once again as they fight it out over which of them is the correct setting for low quality romantic fiction.
Devonshire County Council insists that a sleepy fishing community on their picturesque coastline is the ideal place for a fictional London-based female lawyer who has been dumped by her cheating boyfriend to settle before ultimately finding love with a widowed local artist.
However, their Cornish counterparts maintain that a fictional London-based senior executive who was jilted at the altar by her boyfriend would
be better settling in a sleepy community of artists on the wild Bodmin moors before ultimately finding love with a widowed local fisherman.
The two sides began talks yesterday, with mediators from neighbouring Somerset County Council brought in to arbitrate. But discussions broke down after a suggested compromise, involving a former Londonbased teacher settling in a quiet rural community in Devon before finding love with a widowed Cornish farmer, failed to win support.
“It’s disappointing, but we are confident that the two sides can come to an agreement,” said Emilia Gushlove, president of British Low-Quality Romantic Fiction Publishers Association. “Perhaps the settings of the trashy stories could alternate between the two counties, or maybe the heroines could run away to Gunnislake on the Devon-Cornwall border.”
“We hope that a settlement can be reached soon, but in the meantime we suggest that all authors have their wronged characters running away to Tuscany or Provence until a resolution is found,” she added.