Milady’s Book Club welcomes Noelle Clark

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Botany Bay, Cambodia, Etopia Press, lady Fury, Let Angels Fly, Milady's Book Club, Noelle Ckark, Tilos

It is a very great pleasure to be visiting the most charming Grecian island of Tilos today on my little escape from Lady Margaret. A most interesting place I must say, with an aged monastery with a well,   said to aid conception– and here was me thinking Flint did that.

And a magnificent nightclub in a ruined mountain village no less, where one takes one’s life into one’s hands getting in the transport there alone. Never mind the 40 foot drops when one does, although after a noggin or two, one soon forgets all that, as one leads conga lines over them at 5 in the morning.

Since the island population numbers roughly 400 and I counted twice that there last night, I am forced to conclude there are vampires about. Anyway. Enough, my book club members are present, if not correct, to welcome our very first guest author aboard. Milady Noelle Clark, who as you can see has dressed  accordingly for the visit.

Felicitations upon seeing you in our little stopover today. Can you tell us something about your journey from your homeland?

I boarded the ship in Botany Bay, Sydney, leaving the sun of Australia on a beautiful autumn morning. Most passengers kept to themselves, glad to be leaving the penal colony, and looking forward to returning to the rugged mountains of Tilos, to supping on feta cheese and kalamata olive meze platters, and to once again dancing to Zorba the Greek after drinking too much Ouzo. I shared the steerage cabin with a young girl who was sent to Sydney for not bathing often enough. She spent 17 years in His Majesty’s gaol in Parramatta – but alas – she did not learn to rectify her fear of water. Needless to say, I slept in a lifeboat up on the deck. It got quite cold – until three of the young crewmen discovered me, and to stop them turning me in to the Captain, I offered to, um, keep them warm at night all the way to Tilos. It was what they would call today, a win-win situation.

Heavens. Such trials. But it was worth it? Flint ’s pirate crew are making you welcome I trust?

Unfortunately, I didn’t realise that I had boarded a pirate ship. Silly me – I always stuff up when travelling – I thought the sign on the wharf said ‘Private Ship’. Hmm, that will explain why there were so many parrots, sailors with wooden legs, and one-eyed lotharios leering at me in the fragile lifeboat.

Oh never mind them. You have still brought me a pleasing little gift I see.

Yes, I was going to bring you a kangaroo pie but I got hungry on the way. So I thought this for your paper doll collection…

You could make clothes for her you see.

Well, she does look like she needs them. Now Noelle, you see all the nice gentlemen gathered here today, whose lives I am  keen to  enrich with a little culture. Can you tell them, please, why they should read your book, Let Angels Fly, this week? Myself as well when we have so much to do.

I  see that you are a strong woman, Lady Fury. In my tome, Abbie is also strong. She’s a woman whose marriage was a sham – love died many years ago. She suffered the ultimate insult when her husband took up with a young, blonde trollope half his age! Abbie wallowed for a while, but not for long. She set off to find a new life for herself in Cambodia, wanting to rebuild her self confidence. She found her own Flint – a gorgeous man called Craig. Now don’t you like the sound of that?. As for you gentlemen. oh you parrot there, Myrtle,  I am sure you would love Cambodia.

My goodness, you convince me with your talk of sham marriage, while I am sure Myrtle, as you may see from her picture,

while not an angel, would like flying in Cambodia. So now, some general questions. While I think I have cured Flint of eyeing other women, he is still a great one for eyeing everything else. He calls it booty. Is there anything I should do to disabuse him of helping himself to other people’s boats and their contents?

Lady Fury! I’m surprised you are so naïve!  You should know how to keep him occupied.

‘Hmm. One does not want to give the man ideas. He has sufficient already. ‘Mama’s’ kitchen https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mamas-Kitchen/431002043619495?fref=ts  thoughtfully provided our fare today, largely because the pirates eschew the culinary arts for cutlass waving, drinking and frolicking in night clubs on shore with wenches. Do you have any tips for making them try at least to help my maid, Susan, in the galley? It is such a task and she gets quite fraught.

I found the food on board the ship disgusting! Weevils crawled through the bread, maggots wriggled in the soup, and the vegetables were rotten. Might I suggest to Mamas Kitchen that she contact the providore on board and stock the holds with masses of Maggi Two Minute Noodles?

Tilos is quite a lovely place, what sites do you intend visiting when you leave the ship? Provided of course, you first sign a disclaimer that you never saw me, or Flint ?

IF I leave here  safely, with reputation intact, I will go to work in my grandparents fish and chip shop in the village. Yiros, baclava, spanakopita used to be popular once, but these days, it’s fish and chips (with vinegar), that the populace crave. Then I might stroll to that tavern on the far side of the bay.

              NOELLE CLARK

Arriving in Cambodia to volunteer at an orphanage, Abbie finds a warm welcome with the owner of her hotel, the handsome Craig Nelson. Craig is everything her ex-husband wasn’t—warm, compassionate, and a generous humanitarian dedicated to helping the local people. But after raising a family and being devastated by the end of her bad marriage, the last thing Abbie needs is complications. She’s on her own for the first time in many years, and it’s time for her to spread her wings and fly free amid the people and culture that have always fascinated her.

But while exploring the ancient temples of Angkor Wat, Abbie overhears odd noises and sinister conversation that raise her hackles. Turning to the only person she thinks may be able to help—Craig—she realizes she’s witnessed tomb raiders—art thieves stealing frescoes to sell on the black market. Unable to let the pillaging of the beloved temple continue, Abbie goes back to investigate and finds evidence that proves her theory. And in the
meantime, she finds herself falling for Craig.

Yet change isn’t easy for either of them. Both carry scars, and neither is ready to let go of the past. When Abbie is attacked in the market place, it’s clear her presence in the temple wasn’t overlooked. When Abbie agrees to help the police stage a sting operation to catch the thieves, things go from bad to worse. And Craig might be powerless to help…

“Let Angels Fly” out now on Etopia Press and via Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance eBooks, Kobo

                                  Find Noelle here

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