Overview

This volume, the third of three in this series alone, about St. Ives which 'Q' termed Ardevora relates the tale of Ia, named after the Patron Saint of St. Ives. With clear echoes of George Eliot and references to J.M. Barrie, medieval ballads and Biblical references, Ia relates the story of the love between two people of very different stations in life. Ia contains a tale, with lightly disguised historical references to real events in Cornwall but which is also very positive towards women who rise above their circumstances. Now surpassed in fame as a writer by his daughter's best friend, Daphne du Maurier, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch was the pre-eminent Cornish writer of Victorian & Edwardian times and founder of the Cambridge University school of English Literature. He is of particular interest since his fiction was very often based on factual events long passed from memory.