Publish target: 2022
Patrick Samuel's study of the Pyrenees Mountains is interrupted when he encounters a politically active Basque intern during his convalescence from an injury. Terese, whose uncle “disappeared”, awakens him to the Spain’s veiled turmoil. He falls madly in love with her, but departs alone to France, only inviting Terese to join him later. When she doesn't arrive. Patrick desperately attempts to locate her, only abandoning hope when his every effort fails.
Twenty years later, Professor Samuels is facing career burnout when he receives word that Terese didn't die. During a field trip to uncover the truth, he rekindles Spain's allure through his students. Former colleagues help locate Terese’s abandoned car, her village, and find her hospital supervisor who has a letter from Bayonne, the French city where Patrick and Terese were to rendezvous years earlier.
Patrick’s quest to unearth the truth of her disappearance forces him to question Terese’s long silence. As Franco's regime ends, her uncle's story takes Patrick's quest beyond Spain's Basque region to life's never-ending possibilities.
"quite enthralling . . . read it through without (hardly) putting it down" Randell Stephenson
Publish Date: 2023?
(talk to my agent)
London Calling
Four foreign graduate students meet in post-punk London during the year that sees Britain challenged at home and abroad: the Falkland Islands are invaded amidst the renewal of an IRA bombing campagn in the capital. The two events impact the students, each with different motivations, as they try balancing their goals with the many attractions London has to offer. While Thatcher attempts to transform British politics and society, they struggle to come to terms with their ambitions.
During a conflicted late term road trip to Ireland, their choices are narrowed:
events transpire that complicate their relationships and the future.
Adventure travel on North Afica's west coast, where the search for a lost friend leads to new horizons. It's 1970’s Morocco, on the counter-culture trail to the Sahara: travelers stumble upon adventures through chance meetings on the open road. Thirty years on, the events are revisited: back to the same centre of Berber tradition where North Africa’s colonial history first ended, and a return to the source of inspiration for a life dedicated to ancient wonders.
Publish Date: later