The Great Western Beach

Over 4,200 hardbacks have been sold thorugh BookScan; the paperback has a glorious, nostalgic package, buckets of quotes, fascinating photography, and is a summer promotion proposition for the total market

Emma Smith was born in Cornwall in 1923. During World War II she volunteered to work on the canals as a boatwoman. Later, these experiences would become the basis for her memoirMaidens' Trip, which won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
In 1946, Smith went to India with a team of documentary film-makers including Laurie Lee. She then moved to Paris and wrote the novelThe Far Cry, based on her time in India. It became her second bestseller and was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction in 1949. Susan Hill helped revive Emma Smith's career: she found a copy ofThe Far Cryin a jumble sale and wrote a piece for the Telegraph about it.The Far Crywas re-issued by Persephone Books in 2002
Emma Smith went on to write a further novel and numerous successful children's books. Since 1980 she has lived in Putney, London.