Guest Post - Angela Britnell's Danish Adventure - Bookish World Cup - Denmark

‘You’re going to Denmark.’ In 1981 my twenty-one year old self heard those words and pictured exciting times ahead without any clue how exciting they would actually become. Nowadays people frequently attempt to guess how a girl from a small village in Cornwall ended up living in Nashville, Tennessee but they’re always wildly wrong!

A little scene-setting here. At eighteen I joined what was then the WRNS - Women’s Royal Naval Service - because I couldn’t decide on a career choice, wanted to travel and liked the uniform! I became a Writer (does anyone see a premonition there?) which was the navy’s name for a secretary. Fast forward five years and I’d worked several interesting jobs in the UK and was due a foreign assignment when my boss called me into her office and uttered the fateful words ‘You’re going to Denmark’. 

 My knowledge of Denmark extended to the fact that Copenhagen had a famous Little Mermaid statue and an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens, the country was supposedly teeming with blond hunky men and um…that’s where Danish bacon comes from. Jump ahead six months and I arrive in Viborg, a small town on the Jutland Peninsula a long way from Copenhagen, to work at a NATO Headquarters. I soon discovered that the blond hunks are mostly found in Norway or Sweden, the sort of Danish bacon we eat in England is all exported therefore you don’t find it in Denmark and then came the totally unexpected kicker… within weeks I’m swept off my feet by a tall, dark handsome American naval aviator. On our second date he astonished me by cooking us a delicious meal and determined not to be found wanting I foolishly offered to make Cornish pasties when we went on a picnic. Although the filling tasted fine my homemade pastry was hard enough to use as cannon fodder but he ate every scrap and came back for more. How could I not fall in love?

And Denmark? Although it’s missing the full Scandinavian quota of blondes, there are no stunning fjords and almost anyone can take a leisurely stroll up Himmelbjerget, once measured as the highest point in the country at 147 m (482 ft) until beaten by an equally unpronounceable spot, the country has an awful lot going for it. There’s a quiet beauty about Denmark, the people are exceptionally friendly and most of them speak good English (crucial when learning Danish is beyond challenging), the food is delicious, the pastries outstanding, the quality of life is exceptional (see all the charts where it’s regularly at or near the top) plus it’s a great starting point for travel around northern Europe.

I will always be grateful to the anonymous person working at the drafting office at HMS Centurion whose job it was to match people to available jobs and by a stroke of good fortune, or the fact they wanted to finish early on a Friday and threw darts at a map, sent me to Denmark. Thanks to them I’ve now been married to the aforementioned American for thirty-five years and we’ve raised three outstanding sons who’ve now given us two of the most perfect grandchildren on the planet! I’ve travelled extensively and enjoyed experiences I could never have imagined growing up. So I’ll raise a glass of schnapps and say skål in a toast to Denmark, the small country with a big heart that will always hold a part of mine. 

Thank you so much Angela for sharing with us how a job move to Denmark worked out so well for you.

Amazon UK

Being the best man is a lot to live up to …

When troubled army veteran and musician Josh Robertson returns home to Nashville to be the best man at his younger brother Chad’s wedding he’s just sure that he’s going to mess it all up somehow. 

But when it becomes clear that the wedding might not be going to plan, it’s up to Josh and fellow guest Louise Giles to make sure that Chad and his wife-to-be Maggie get their perfect day. 

Can Josh be the best man his brother needs? And is there somebody else who is beginning to realise that Josh could be her ‘best man’ too? 

About Angela Britnell

Angela grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!

A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she's visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she's a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.

She is a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, the Romance Writers of America and the Music City Romance Writers.

If you'd like to find out more of what Angela gets up to (Advance warning: this may include references to wine, chocolate, Poldark and the hunky Aidan Turner) check out www.angelabritnellromance.com or follow her on www.facebook.com/angelabritnell, www.twitter.com/angelabritnell and on Instagram as Angela Golley Britnell.