SYNOPSIS:  A rebellious granddaughter’s unexpected arrival on a transatlantic crossing hinders an elderly British World War II veteran’s suicide plan. Haunted by his past and the voice of the man he killed, he seeks redemption.

FROM THE AUTHOR: My new novel Into the Waves (74,000 words/literary fiction) tells the story of Sergeant Clive Henders, a British World War II veteran tormented by memories of the man he killed: his best friend and brother-in-law Parky Wilkinson. Decades later, Clive embarks on a suicide mission to relive Parky’s final days at sea.

After his wife dies suddenly, Clive books passage on the Queen Margaret for a six-day transatlantic crossing. This military reunion will be his last voyage. The goal: to jump into the same waters where the Nazis shot down his plane sixty years earlier, leaving him and Parky stranded on a life raft in the frigid Atlantic. When Clive’s estranged granddaughter Tracy, fresh out of rehab, shows up on the ship, she derails his mission and exacerbates his PTSD. Will Tracy and the promise of family bring Clive salvation, or will Parky’s voice drive him over the edge? 

Into the Waves was inspired by a true story. When I took the Queen Mary2 from New York to Southampton, the ship was abuzz with talk of the prior crossing. An elderly British veteran jumped off eighteen stories to die in the waters where he fought during World War II. I couldn’t get this story out of my mind and decided to fictionalize it, first as a screenplay and then as a novel.