Derek Tangye (1912–1996)

Derek Tangye never fails me! I’ve read so many of his books that reading this was like coming back to visit a friend. Actually, I was surprised to find a title I hadn’t read! The story revolves around an animal. A cat, another black cat that’s mysteriously appeared. Minack seems to be a magnet for stray animals who, in spite of strong discouragement by Derek and gentle encouragement by Jeannie always end up as part of life at the cottage. Another lovely look into their life on the show more cliffs of Cornwall. If you’ve never read any of The Minack Chronicles, do yourself a favour. They’re a marvellous bit of relaxing escapism and who doesn’t need some of that these days! show less

I discovered Derek Tangye and his wonderful books in my twenties, and I tore through them like a child tears though his Christmas presents. Derek and his wife, Jeannie, chucked successful jobs and a glittering lifestyle in London, bought a tumbledown cottage in Cornwall and took up daffodil farming. Derek was already a published author, and both he an Jeannie soon found that writing was a great way to enhance and support their lifestyle.

His books were about their life at Minack, and almost show more always involved the animals that found shelter there, from various cats, to donkeys and even seagulls. These wonderfully written books captured peoples imagination and it wasn’t too long before Minack was a popular destination for tourists from around the world.

Unfortunately Derek lost his Jeannie in 1986. Jeannie: A Love Story is his final love letter to her. This is a tribute to the woman he loved, the woman who left so much to eke out a living in an isolated place with no electricity, no bathroom, no phone. Of course, their success at writing eventually added the modern conveniences, but they never did put in a telephone or a television, and although they always welcomed visitors, they rather fancied their time alone. Obviously Derek loved his wife very much and honours both her memory and the idyllic lifestyle they created for themselves. show less

This is mostly an interesting enough book, albeit not exactly riveting. It is a series of adventures of a man and his wife who chose to live on a flower farm in Cornwall. So, we get tales about their interactions with their cats and donkeys, sorting and shipping daffodils during harvest season, taking long walks, having famous people stop by to visit, mulling over the "important" things of life, and so forth. Mostly, it's light and humorous, somewhat like the James Herriot books about life show more as a country veterinarian.

The big flaw in the book, however, is Tangye's sanctimonious disparagement of the vast unwashed people who appear to lack the moral strength of character (in his telling) to live in and with nature, but rather spend their lives mindlessly going about drudge jobs and watching vapid TV. If memory serves, vapidity was common in the novels of Jane Austen and Dickens, so vapidity struck society long before TV.

Actually, I don't have much problem with Tangye's thinking that we all might be better off living lives more aware of the natural world around us, and less consumed with mindless distractions. The problem is, most of us can't afford to throw up our lives in the city, or wherever, and settle down to bucolic bliss on a farm in Cornwall. Tangye was a child of privilege who was educated at Harrow, who married a spouse who had written several successful books and had sold a number of paintings, and who had himself written several books and had a successful career as a journalist. So he could afford to throw things over and begin anew in bucolic bliss. He would never really have to worry about from whence his next meal might come. So it's the moral judgmentalism that rankles. When he gets on these tangents, mercifully not too often, I am rather reminded of the quote, assigned in jest to Barry Goldwater, "everyone should have enough moral integrity to inherit a million dollars." show less

Derek Tangye and his wife Jeannie dropped their hectic London lifestyle and moved to a small crofters cottage called Minack that clung to the cliffs over the ocean in Cornwall. They grew flowers and vegetables to be sold in at Coventry Garden. They had many tenuous years trying to make ends meet, but once Derek Tangye started writing memoirs describing their life, their financial problems were over. All of his books feature the animals that shared their life from donkeys to ducks but most show more especially the few cats that ruled the roost. At first they had Monty, bringing him from London but when he passed away at 16 years, Lama came into their life.

Derek had vowed no more cats after Monty, with the exception being if a black cat showed up at the door during a storm and, sure enough, Lama arrived in that exact fashion. She won both their hearts and was to be Queen of the place for many years. She received her name from the 1959 newspaper headlines about the Dali Lama escaping into India to get away from the Chinese.

The writing is light and breezy, you feel much like you are reading the letters of a favorite uncle as he relates his stories of Cornish weather, the struggles of relying on growing things and the delight of being close to nature. The time that these books take place is during the 1950’s and 1960’s which adds to the feeling of being in a time capsule. This book, with it’s focus on a little wild cat as she adapts to domestic living is captivating. show less