Facing It

Valerie Angel

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Lovereading Price £6.99

RRP: £6.99

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Why I wrote this book

Everyone who returns from an exotic adventure feels the urge to put their incredible experiences down on paper. I didn’t resist but felt it needed a context to make it a bit different. It is said you should write about what you know but not exclusively that surely? I’m always asked what life on board a racing yacht was like. And how I felt during the myriad highs and lows. A novel gives me the chance to present what the TV cameras didn’t show. Group adventures impose two challenges – the physical one you’ve chosen, and the other - people who you haven’t. Endurance and remote locations expose the best and worst in you. It’s a learning experience you can’t fail to be changed by. This led me to explore the idea of facial transplants and how such an adventure would affect people who were already juggling the concepts of self, identity, image and escape. Adding the inevitable results of men and women cooped up together, I hope I’ve created a lively, engaging and unusual story.
Why is it different? It’s a mixture of authenticity and fiction. The voyage traces the route of The British Steel Challenge and the scenes in Sri Lank are based on my experience of and concern for that lovely place. Why should a reader buy it? This would be a suitable choice for Book Clubs. It has a fast moving plot with complex interaction between the characters making it easy to read and providing many themes for discussion.

Synopsis

The voyage in this story of courage and adventure is loosely based on the route of the British Steel Challenge. It’s set slightly into the future to facilitate a little social comment. The characters are entirely fictitious, chosen to illustrate some of our modern challenges. The skipper, Roger, a local hero, is used to taking punters “the wrong way” round the world in his yacht but by 2018 any ambitious voyage to remote places has become a highly competitive business. Therefore he is persuaded to take a disparate group of vulnerable people. Southern Ocean rapture works its soothing magic and they have become a reliable team when events take a dramatic turn. Plans for a discreet homecoming are scuppered when they are pursued by Hindu terrorists who plan to seize the boat to raise their bank balance and their public profile.

Reviews

Joanna Simpson MA Lecturer, Zielona Gora University, Poland: "Review 1: The book reads easily keeping the reader interested at every moment with its descriptions of life at sea and the author's clever insight into the crew members' personal experiences.
When the journey comes to its end and everything seems to have gone smoothly, an unexpected and dramatic turn of events takes place. The book keeps the reader alert to the very end."

Marc Kerry International Association of Cape Horners: "Valerie’s experience of life aboard the racing yacht, Rhone Poulenc shows through. To have completed a round the world race at 50 is a great achievement. The various tensions arising between an otherwise cohesive crew are dealt with believably. The approach to readers with basic yachting knowledge is appropriate. The novel describes the loss of identity caused by living with a new facial appearance well.  I’m not too sure about the surprise ending. It seems very abrupt, despite signs from the start that the story would involve more about Sri Lanka."

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