The Sunshine Of Your Smile

Shadows and Sunbeams

The Sunshine of Your Smile sweeps readers into the windswept beauty of Cornwall’s rugged coastline, where photographer Clara Beaumont returns to her family’s crumbling seaside cottage after a decade away. Haunted by memories of her mother’s untimely passing and the tragic yacht accident that fractured her family, Clara arrives determined to capture the region’s ever-changing light—and, perhaps, to piece together the fragments of her own heart. Yet as golden dawns spill across bracing cliffs and storm clouds roll in from the Atlantic, she encounters stranger–turned–ally Daniel Thorn, a local marine biologist whose gentle confidence contrasts with the shadows Clara cannot yet escape.

Waves of Change

As Clara retraces her childhood haunts—abandoned lighthouses, hidden coves, and salt-sprayed promenades—she unearths letters from her mother revealing long-buried secrets of love and sacrifice. Daniel, wrestling with his own family’s legacy of maritime disaster, offers more than scientific expertise: he becomes a guide through both the treacherous tides off Land’s End and the tidal currents of Clara’s emotions. Together, they explore forgotten shipwrecks and dusty attics, each discovery illuminating how grief and forgiveness often ride the same wave.

Radiant Revelations

With Cornwall’s legendary “sunshine of your smile” festival approaching—a celebration of light, warmth, and community—Clara and Daniel must decide whether to cling to past sorrows or to embrace the possibility of new beginnings. Against a backdrop of fairy-lit harbors and echoing fiddle tunes, Clara’s lens focuses on moments of quiet courage: an aging fisherman’s final voyage, a child’s first discovery of tide pools, and two hearts learning to trust the promise of tomorrow. In a crescendo of lantern-lit cliffs and whispered vows by the sea, the true power of love’s illumination is revealed.

. Joan Jonker is a bestselling British author celebrated for her evocative portrayals of coastal life, her lyrical exploration of grief and hope, and her heartfelt stories of love rediscovered beneath the changing skies.