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Drowning
It's 2025. For 18-year-old Poppy Winter, life on the self-sufficient island of Socius is bliss. She spends her simple days tending crops, sharing out the produce and enjoying secret fantasies about Stuart.
On the neighbouring island of UMAH, President Monterey's daughter Fenella is juggling a hectic mix of cello recitals, a law degree and her fated infatuation with the son of her Dad's political rival.
The two girls have the opportunity of a lifetime when they embark on a cultural exchange to sample each other's lives. But it's not long before they are both out of their depth.
On the neighbouring island of UMAH, President Monterey's daughter Fenella is juggling a hectic mix of cello recitals, a law degree and her fated infatuation with the son of her Dad's political rival.
The two girls have the opportunity of a lifetime when they embark on a cultural exchange to sample each other's lives. But it's not long before they are both out of their depth.
228 pages, ebook
First published March 23, 2016
1 person is currently reading
50 people want to read
About the author
C. Fleming
4 books3 followersI have been writing fiction since I was seven years old, and set up a "writers circle" with my school friend when we were just thirteen.
My career has taken me into the world of broadcast journalism, PR and publicity and more recently, transport behaviour change and social marketing.
I write in my spare time purely for enjoyment, and have a few completed novels awaiting redrafts and refinement, and a plethora of jumbled ideas for plot lines in my head. I draw inspiration from people and events around me.
Dark Horse is the first novel I felt ready to share with the world, and I have since completed "Drowning", a novel set in 2025, inspired by a non fiction book I read in 2014 about the environmental crisis facing the human race in the future, and whether technological advances have the capacity to 'save us'.
The lockdown due to Coronavirus in 2020 freed up some time to finally complete the sequel to Dark Horse - II hope you'll check out "Staying on Track". I loved visiting the characters again, and brought some new protagonists to the cast - both two legged and four!
In 2023 I published my 4th novel. ‘What about Jayne?’ follows a group of school friends in the 1980s, as they plan to reunite for the 30th anniversary of a special photograph.
2024 sees the start of novel number 5… my untitled manuscript sees a male protagonist at the centre of the tale.
I am often helped in the writing process by my cat, Poppy. Well, I say "helped".....
My career has taken me into the world of broadcast journalism, PR and publicity and more recently, transport behaviour change and social marketing.
I write in my spare time purely for enjoyment, and have a few completed novels awaiting redrafts and refinement, and a plethora of jumbled ideas for plot lines in my head. I draw inspiration from people and events around me.
Dark Horse is the first novel I felt ready to share with the world, and I have since completed "Drowning", a novel set in 2025, inspired by a non fiction book I read in 2014 about the environmental crisis facing the human race in the future, and whether technological advances have the capacity to 'save us'.
The lockdown due to Coronavirus in 2020 freed up some time to finally complete the sequel to Dark Horse - II hope you'll check out "Staying on Track". I loved visiting the characters again, and brought some new protagonists to the cast - both two legged and four!
In 2023 I published my 4th novel. ‘What about Jayne?’ follows a group of school friends in the 1980s, as they plan to reunite for the 30th anniversary of a special photograph.
2024 sees the start of novel number 5… my untitled manuscript sees a male protagonist at the centre of the tale.
I am often helped in the writing process by my cat, Poppy. Well, I say "helped".....
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 12, 2017
Received this book as a giveaway.
I quite enjoyed this book.
Written in the voices of two young girls, the style is very modern and may not be to everyone's tastes - I personally found it a bit simplistic - but it seemed appropriate for the characters it depicted.
There is nothing subtle about the environmental message in this story, but it is made with a lot of humour and a very satisfying ending. All is excess and exaggeration in both worlds in a way, but at opposite ends.
Although I would have liked some more depths in the characters or some descriptions, I found myself taken into these two worlds and bonded with Poppy and Fenella and their experiences of each other's lives.
An enjoyable read in my opinion.
I quite enjoyed this book.
Written in the voices of two young girls, the style is very modern and may not be to everyone's tastes - I personally found it a bit simplistic - but it seemed appropriate for the characters it depicted.
There is nothing subtle about the environmental message in this story, but it is made with a lot of humour and a very satisfying ending. All is excess and exaggeration in both worlds in a way, but at opposite ends.
Although I would have liked some more depths in the characters or some descriptions, I found myself taken into these two worlds and bonded with Poppy and Fenella and their experiences of each other's lives.
An enjoyable read in my opinion.
October 22, 2024
Speculative fiction. A standalone climate fiction (cli-fi) novel with utopian/dystopian elements.
Two societies with very different values live alongside each other, and interact within a fragile ecosystem. While one society is very individualistic and the other is more community (and environmentally)-minded, neither society is portrayed as 'perfect,' which I appreciated.
Two societies with very different values live alongside each other, and interact within a fragile ecosystem. While one society is very individualistic and the other is more community (and environmentally)-minded, neither society is portrayed as 'perfect,' which I appreciated.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews