Children’s story in progress: When Whales Fly
“When Whales Fly” is set in present-day Humboldt County and tells of a young girl named Aloe (11) who is desperate to earn back her father’s love. What she wants gradually shifts and starts to change when grandpa’s neighbors introduce her to a pair of big-eyed Boston Terriers, a mysterious scrap metal sculpture, and a new fear of muffins (hello matcha and raisin, or the pièce de résistance: beet and quinoa) during her stay at his home on the edge of a redwood forest.
This story is told through the eyes of Aloe who is desperate to escape her mother’s irrational choices and believes she has the perfect plan to make her father fight for custody to live with him and his new family in Miami. This idea is reinforced when her mom dumps her at grandpa’s house to go on a road trip with her new online boyfriend. Finding comfort and a new sense of found family with grandpa, the dogs, and the intriguing neighbors, Aloe is conflicted about whether she really wants to live with her father but is forced to make a decision when her mom decides they are moving to Arizona to be with the new boyfriend.
Aloe concocts an impulsive plan, hoping to stage a joyful reunion where her parents apologize for ignoring her and promise she can live where she is happiest. However, her adventure may or may not have an encounter with a forest ghost who leaves behind a strange gift. Then she finds out that her grandpa has a worsening health condition that she is convinced is all her fault. When the crisis with grandpa happens, will she be able to save him? In the aftermath, will it be possible to convince her mom to listen to what she wants for once in her life? This story is about trying to make sense of situations when others are in control and learning the meaning of bittersweet. Aloe finally realizes what the mysterious sculpture next door represents and sees her family from a different perspective. However, she never compromises on her taste in muffins.
Debut novel in editing state: Songbirds of the Baobab Tree
THE SONGBIRDS OF THE BAOBAB TREE includes psychological themes of belonging and adversity, similar to Abi Daré’s “The Girl with The Louding Voice” and will appeal to fans of suspense novels by Samantha Ford like “The Ambassador’s Daughter.” There are elements of magical realism that relate to certain African spiritual connections with ancestors and dream interpreters as seen in “The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind.”
There is nowhere to hide when you insist on being a hero.
The story is told by Carah Paulson, a journalist from Cape Town desperate for a distraction after her mother’s death, who is invited to write an extended article involving the Remembrance Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya. She agrees to write her interpretation of ongoing events before she realizes there’s an ulterior motive to why she was invited in the first place. Her discovery will forever link her to a dangerous world where she feels like an imposter.
She hears first-hand accounts of elephant rescues, the assassination of a president at the sanctuary, and the spiritual connection between a woman and the orphaned baby elephants. Carah embarks on an emotional journey into the harsh world of poaching where ordinary people are pitted against highly skilled adversaries. She doubts her ability to retell these traumatic experiences which are so far removed from her life in modern Cape Town, but forms deep connections with both the people and elephants at Remembrance, especially with Millicent Obani, a singer and staff member, who is resisting an impending arranged marriage to a local chief. Carah is intrigued by spiritual connections Millicent claims to have with elephants, and the role a dream interpreter from a village plays in warning others about sinister forces surrounding them.
As each staff member’s story is told, Carah struggles to make sense of the contrast between the sweeping beauty of Remembrance and the unrelenting threat poaching places on vulnerable animal and human communities. As a modern woman, she is skeptical to discover an ancient spiritual connection linked to the nearby ancient Gede Ruins, and when a secret is revealed, Carah is forced to decide whether she will follow her instinct to run away from difficult situations or to compromise in ways she never imagined doing.