‘In spite of their near-crash, Strike and Robin entered the Devonshire town of Tiverton shortly after twelve. Robin followed the sat nav’s instructions past quiet country houses topped with thick layers of glittering white, over a neat little bridge spanning a river the colour of flint and past a sixteenth-century church of unexpected grandeur to the far side of the town, where a pair of electric gates were discreetly set back from the road.’
Galbraith, Robert. The Silkworm: Cormoran Strike Book 2 (p. 249)
Tiverton is an ancient town which stands on the confluence of the rivers Exe and Lowman, and it name derives comes from the Saxon Twyfiride, meaning two fords. Perhaps it is worth noting, given that Robin should at this time be with her fiancé in Yorkshire rather than driving Strike to a meeting with publisher Daniel Chard, that it was at St Peter’s in Tiverton Mendelssohn’s famous ’Wedding March’ was first performed.
The Tithebarn has been converted into a space of glass and towering heights which remind Robin of the light filled studios in Talgarth Road where Quine was discovered. The staircase is suspended in mid-air on thick metal cables and furniture which seems to consist of cubes of black or white leather. There is, though, a painting by Alfred Wallis, naive artist of the first half of the twentieth century, of St Michael’s Mount, the famous Cornish island which is only twenty miles from the town of St Mawes where Strike spent much of his childhood.
Robin is banished to the kitchen, which later leads to a fight in the Tiverton Services over burgers between her and Strike. It clears the air between them though, so when Robin makes her dash for the train to York, back in London, the partners understand each other better than they have for some time, even as the case grows ever more complex.
