Book Spotlight ~ The Wind Weeps by Anneli Purchase

Book Spotlight

Imagine yourself newly wed to a handsome young fisherman who takes you to live in a remote cabin on the B.C. coast. How romantic! Or is it? Too late, you realize that you’ve made a bad choice. His behavior is more and more aggressive and bizarre. At first you’re nervous, then afraid, then terrified. At last, you fear for your life. There is no phone and he has control of the only radio, which is on his fishboat docked in front of the cabin. Even if you could access it, if he found out you had used it, you might not survive long enough to be rescued. Outside in the howling winter storms, the wind weeps, and so do you.

Book Spotlight

Here is an excerpt from my novel, The Wind Weeps. Robert has allowed Andrea to come along on a rare trip for groceries to a small general store on a nearby island.

***

We loaded up on groceries and it occurred to me that I might phone Monique from the store. Robert would never approve, but maybe while he was taking the first load of food down to the boat, I could make a quick call.

As soon as he stepped outside with the first of the boxes, I said, “I’ll be along in a minute. I want to have another look at the sewing things.” Then quickly I looked for the storekeeper to get his attention.

“Excuse me?” I called across the room to him. “Do you have a—”

I stopped mid-sentence as Robert stuck his head back in the door. He looked at me with a scowl and motioned with waves of his hand for me to continue the question.

“Ah, er, do you have a … washroom I could use, please?”

“Sure, right back here, miss.” He pointed down a dark hall. “On the right.”

By the time I got into the washroom my impromptu need to pee became real. I had so nearly been caught. Robert would have been furious to catch me reaching out to someone—anyone but him. And worse yet, he didn’t like Monique.

He always said, “What Monique needs is a man in her life to tell her what to do. Who does she think she is, doing whatever she pleases? I don’t like you hanging out with her. She’s a bad influence on you.” Why would I want to phone her? he would want to know.

Arranging to run away? A shiver of fear went through me. Was I really contemplating running away? Was it what I wanted? Yes! Yes! Yes! Oh yes!

I flushed the toilet, gave my hands a rinse and hurried out.

“Thank you,” I mumbled to the storekeeper. I picked up the remaining box of groceries and headed for the door. “Oh!” I stopped. “Is there any mail for me? Andrea Bolton?”

He shuffled through the letters he kept under the counter. “Yes, there is. It’s been here a while, but I hang onto letters longer than the post office says. I know people live far out and don’t get in here that often.”

“Very nice of you to do that.” I looked around the store. “Robert? Is he still here?”

“He’s gone.” I wondered later if he saw my shoulders sag with relief. I folded up the letter very small so it fit into my jacket pocket, out of sight.

“Oh, okay. Thanks. Well, Merry Christmas.”

I was rewarded with a warm smile. “And merry Christmas to you too. I hope it’s a good one for you.” I nodded. I hope so too. But chances are it’ll be just another day … if I’m lucky.

***

Review of The Wind Weeps

Elise and Hazel:

Loved it! Love the title! Loved the contents, as they kept us interested and engaged. Learned more about the lonely life of fisher people, and we revisited some of our personal dockside stories. The book touches on many topics most people will not talk about. It has some interesting dynamics with isolation. Why would the wind weep? There are a number of ways this is revealed. It makes us think that we all have stories that need to be written!

Make your next read, the Wind Weeps.

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You can order this book as a paperback or as an e-book at smashwords.com and all amazon outlets. Click on the links for more information.

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.de

smashwords.com

Please visit my webpage at anneli-purchase.com or my blogs at http://wordsfromanneli.wordpress.com and http://annelisplace.wordpress.com

The perfect Christmas gift idea! Choose from three of my novels: The Wind WeepsOrion’s Gift, or Julia’s Violinist.

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