The Brontes had their moors, Hardy had his heath and now author Catherine Miller has taken the landscape and wildlife of RSPB Bempton Cliffs as inspiration.
Catherine, who’s based in the New Forest, has written a romantic novel, ‘99 Days With You’, whose two main characters visit the East Yorkshire coast nature reserve on a mission to see puffins.
Catherine explained:
‘It’s a boy meets girl tale with a twist - the protagonists have a Wish List and puffin spotting is one of the things they want to do. After researching places where they might see this iconic seabird, it seemed to me that the best place they could go was RSPB Bempton Cliffs.’
In the style of JoJo Moyes’ ‘Me Before You’ series, the novel has sold around 50,000 copies. It’s also been translated into five languages, including French and German, and has received great reviews with a rating of 4.5 on Amazon.
Catherine didn’t have chance to recce the site before writing about it and lockdown prevented her visiting prior to publication. She used information found online and Google Earth to get an idea of what the nature reserve was like.
But both Catherine and her partner Ben Thomson, who joined her on her first trip to the place where one of the book’s key scenes takes place , agreed that the cliffs more than lived up to their expectations:
‘The landscape is even grander than I imagined. The cliffs are much bigger in real life and the vastness of the sea beyond is startling. And while we visited very early in the seabird season, it’s a spooky coincidence that the day we arrived, volunteers spotted the first puffin of the year. If I’d written that in a story, no-one would’ve believed it’.
Communications Officer, Maria Prchlik, added:
‘Being in Catherine’s book is a great way to reach new audiences. Without giving away any spoilers, the story will definitely tug a few heart strings. Several of our team are members of Book Clubs and I’m sure they’ll now be adding ’99 Days With You’ to their reading list.’
And, crucially, is there a happy ending? Catherine said:
‘I’d like to think the ending is hopeful…but you might need a tissue’.
We have one copy of Catherine's book to give away, see the post on the RSPB Bempton Cliffs Facebook page
Facebook Book Competition
We have 1 prize to give away in a competition that will run on our RSPB Bempton Cliffs Facebook page. We will run the competition between the 15 - 31 March.
To enter the competition, entrants must like the post, share it, and comment and then an entrant will be picked at random from the total.
Rules 1. This competition is open to all UK residents aged over 18, except any employee of or person directly connected with the RSPB and their immediate family members. Proof of age may be required. 2. The competition is free to enter and no purchase is necessary. 3. All entries must be submitted by commenting on the post that will be posted within the RSPB Bempton Cliffs social media channel. Entries must be submitted using the comments section of the post. 4. The Competition will be posted every day on 1st December until 24th December. The RSPB must receive entries by 4:30pm on each day’s post. Any entry which is late, incomplete or inappropriate will be deemed invalid at the discretion of the RSPB. 5. The RSPB accepts no responsibility for any technical failure, malfunction or any other problem with any server, internet access system or otherwise which may result in any entry being lost, corrupted or not properly registered or recorded. No responsibility will be taken for damaged or lost entries. 6. The judges shall put all the entries into a random name picker and one winner will be selected. The judges’ decisions shall be final. No correspondence regarding the results will be entered into. 7. The winner shall receive the signed copy of Catherine Miller’s book ’99 Days With You’. 8. The winner will be notified by a direct message from RSPB Bempton Cliffs via Facebook. They must respond by providing a postal address to bempton.cliffs@rspb.org.uk to claim their prize. Once this has been confirmed the RSPB will send the winner their prize within 5 days and this information will be deleted. If a winner does not respond with this information within 5 days of being notified by the RSPB then they will forfeit their prize and a replacement winner will be selected from the other applicants. 9. The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable and no cash alternative is offered. 10. The RSPB accepts no responsibility for loss or damage to the prize which may occur during delivery to the winner’s address. 11. The prize was provided by the author, Catherine Miller.
Terms and Conditions 1. By submitting your entry to the RSPB, you agree to be legally bound by the Rules and these Terms and Conditions. 2. The RSPB reserves the right to hold void, cancel, suspend, or amend the promotion where it becomes necessary to do so. 3. Any entry must be your original work and it must not infringe the rights of third parties including copyright, trade mark, trade secrets, privacy, publicity, personal or proprietary rights. 4. Full copyright title shall be retained by the author of any entry. By submitting any entry to the RSPB, you agree to grant the RSPB a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable right and worldwide license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display and exercise all publicity rights with respect to your entry, and/or to incorporate your entry in other works, in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in your entry, and in accordance with privacy restrictions set out in the RSPB’s Privacy Policy. 5. By submitting an entry, you agree to waive any moral rights contained in your entry. Any entry you provide shall be non-confidential. 6. By submitting an entry, you agree the RSPB may use the material for any purpose and in any way it chooses, including, but not limited to, marketing, publicity, advertising and presentations. 7. The RSPB (including its subsidiaries, agents or distributors) shall not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss or damage or for any costs, claims or demands of any nature whatsoever arising directly or indirectly out of the use of your entry or any part thereof. 8. Insofar as is permitted by law, the RSPB, its subsidiaries, agents or distributors will not in any circumstances be responsible or liable to compensate the winner or accept any loss, damage, personal injury or death occurring as a result of taking up the prize except where it is caused by the negligence of the RSPB, its agents or distributors or that of their employees. Your statutory rights are not affected. 9. You agree to indemnify the RSPB (and its subsidiaries) against any claim from any third party for any breach of the Rules or these Terms and Conditions. 10. The RSPB reserves the right to update these Terms and Conditions from time to time and any updated version will be effective as soon as it is published on the RSPB Love Nature Facebook page. 11. The winner may be requested to participate in publicity related to the prize draw which may include the publication of their name and photograph in any media, you agree that your personal date may be used for this. 12. Any entry you provide shall be non-confidential. 13. The RSPB take your privacy very seriously; we will only use your personal information in accordance with the terms of RSPB’s Privacy Policy (available here: www.rspb.org.uk/privacypolicy). Personal data supplied during the course of this promotion will be passed on to third party suppliers only insofar as required for the fulfilment/deliver/arrangement of the prize. By submitting an entry, you acknowledge and agree that you have read and accept the terms of our Privacy Policy and these Terms and Conditions. 14. This competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. 15. In using Facebook, you acknowledge and agree to be bound by Facebook’s Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. 16. This competition is governed by English law and English Courts have exclusive jurisdiction. 17. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (the RSPB) is a registered charity in England & Wales no. 207076 and in Scotland no. SC037654 whose registered address is at The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire SG19 2DL.