Bodmin author’s Downderry-inspired romance up for £20,000 prize

She was only looking for somewhere to go kayaking with her children. What she found was Downderry, and the setting for a novel that is now one of five left in the running for a £20,000 prize.

Bodmin-based author LK Wilde has been shortlisted for the Kindle Storyteller Award for her romance novel A Summer of Love at Saffron Bay.

It was picked from tens of thousands of entries.

📷A Summer of Love at Saffron Bay by LK Wilde

A village found by chance

The book’s setting was inspired by a trip to the south coast, not far from where she lives. She came across the small village of Downderry by chance one day, while hunting for a kayaking spot with her children.

A Summer of Love at Saffron Bay is the third book in her Saffron Bay series.

From music to a full-time writing career

LK Wilde loved writing as a child, but life first took her into the world of music. It wasn’t until her dad became ill in 2019 that she went back to it.

She started by noting down memories of her teenage years, spent living on a small Northumbrian island. Those notes turned into her first novel, the historical fiction book Silver Darlings, which she self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Seventeen books later, she hasn’t looked back. For the past two years writing has been her full-time career.

The Kindle Storyteller Award

First launched in 2016, the award celebrates indie storytelling. It is open to new, previously unpublished English-language books published through Kindle Direct Publishing between 1 May and 31 August, and all genres are eligible.

Hers is one of just five books on this year’s shortlist.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on Thursday 5 November.

📷LK Wilde