East of Varley Head describes the way of life in the village of Port Isaac in North Cornwall in the late 1940s, a post-war backwater which had yet to encounter the sweeping winds of social change that were to blow at full gale a decade later. Die-hard habits, traditions and customs were to the fore; the somewhat less than holy trinity of church, chapel and school formed the pivot on which the structure turned; and through it all moved characters who were in many cases as eccentric as they were extraordinary, blending their individual colours into the great tapestry of local life. The narrative viewpoint, observations and recollections are personal to the author, whose age at the time in which the book is set ranged between 5 and 10 years. As such, the book is necessarily to some extent a subjective account, however its every aspect took place within the author’s experience, and provides an accurate portrait told with both affection and humour.