The Marazion holiday that inspired Sam Safe’s pirate book

A week in a cottage behind a pub, four minutes from the beach, was meant to be a family holiday. It turned into a book.

A tough year before the trip

Sam Safe and his wife Pat had been through a difficult stretch. Sam had been out of work for a while, then started a job he found tiring, and it had been a hard year with illness in the family. When one of their granddaughters and her family had to pull out of the planned trip after her husband couldn’t get the dates off work, the holiday party narrowed down to Sam, Pat, a granddaughter in her thirties, and a great-granddaughter of 11, who was about to start secondary school.

Sam describes the family as not rich. His car is a 2009 Vauxhall Vectra. Money that does come spare, he says, goes on making memories. Pat had fallen for a holiday cottage in Marazion, Mount View Cottage, and that settled it. Sam wanted the move up to senior school to feel like an adventure for his great-granddaughter rather than something to worry about, because she was.

A week around Marazion

Mount View Cottage sits four minutes’ walk from the beach, behind a pub. Over the week the family walked to St Michael’s Mount, drove into Penzance, Mousehole and Porthleven, and took the train from St Erth to St Ives.

Sam calls this part of Cornwall truly magical, and says he was inspired by the places, the people and the food to write a short book, around 70 pages, to reflect the holiday and show hope and fun.

📷Back cover artwork from The Magical Jigsaw of Marazion by Sam Safe.

The book born from the holiday

The result is The Magical Jigsaw of Marazion, an illustrated pirate adventure by Sam Safe, subtitled A Pirate Adventure in Cornwall. The story is centred on the town, where a wise sea creature and a parrot guide a family to treasure, while a magical jigsaw marks their deeds as they navigate misfortune and good fortune along the way.

The family has since read it. The great-granddaughter has started secondary school. Sam says they still reflect on the holiday, and that it remains one of the best they’ve had.

Where to find it

The Magical Jigsaw of Marazion (ISBN 9798171896904) is available on Amazon as a Kindle edition, included with Kindle Unlimited or free to buy, and as a paperback at £7.99.

“I hope this helps,” Sam wrote, signing off the email that finally explained where the book came from.

📷Front cover artwork from The Magical Jigsaw of Marazion by Sam Safe.