Cook Islands Story

Hello! Welcome to the early workings out of my third novel. This is where I plot and draft out ideas for the story and characters, and collate photos to use as my mood board. Nothing here is set in stone. This is a work in progress and I’ll keep adding and updating as I work through things, dumping what’s in my mind on this virtual whiteboard. It might end up being a complete mess. It might not. But it’s rather exciting finding out!

MALE LEAD
Daniel Jones. 32 years old. British Olympic Sprinter. He’s mentioned in Book 2, The Summer of Sebastian, as “the poor guy who got kicked off a horse” three days before he was due to start working as the Sports Ambassador on Michael Adams’s Get Living campaign (Sebastian is Dan’s last minute replacement). The story starts 6 months after the accident, Dan’s fiancee (the pop singer, Isabella) has called off their engagement, he’s left crippled by this injuries (not sure how yet, but he’ll never run again, and is still in a lot of pain, doing lots of physio, and getting over the mental trauma). The British press are camping outside his home, hungry for the first photos of his scars and to see him limping after once being one of the fastest men on Earth. Dan’s gifted his no-longer needed honeymoon in the Cook Islands to his mum and Auntie Zeezee (mum’s best friend) but needing to stave off his depression, he decides to join them after all–except his journey to meet up with them doesn’t go quite to plan…

FEMALE LEAD
Liberta Jones. (No relation to Dan Jones – so you can probably see where this is going…) 30 years old. She’s a single mum to a two year old… and American (I think, haven’t decided yet, but her not being British does work for the story). Libby comes across as a hippy, free spirited traveller (as her name suggests – Liberta is freedom). She’s a seasoned backpacker, embarking on a journey with her child for her vlog Travels with my Child. She’s constantly wracked with Mum Guilt that she’s doing the right thing, but she wants to show other single parents what’s possible. She’s quirky and vibrant, has red hair and a diamond nose stud, wears bright red lipstick. She’s also a trained journalist and was once very high-profile. She’s basically the last person Dan would ever want to be stuck on a small island with…

THE SETTING
Rarotonga, Aitutaki and Atiu (three main tourist islands of the Cooks) – here are my pics from when My Man and I travelled there in 2008.

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