Meet Lucinda E. Clarke, author of Amie: An African Adventure.
Lucinda’s experiences in her 30 years in Africa offer an authenticity to her book that can’t be beat. She has several published works, and this is but one of them. I encourage you to check out all of her books!
Blurb:
Amie was just an average girl, living in her home town close to friends and family. She was happily married and she had her future all planned out. They would have two adorable children, while she made award winning programmes for television.
Until the day her husband announced he was being sent to live and work in an African country she’d never heard of.
When she came to the notice of a Colonel in the Government, it made life very complicated, and from there things started to escalate from bad to worse.
If Amie could have seen that one day she would be totally lost, fighting for her life, and enduring untold horrors, she would never have stepped foot on that plane.
What are readers saying about Amie: An African Adventure?
This book was written with such consummate skill. I have enormous admiration for Lucinda E Clarke as an author. She not only knows how to write an edge-of-the-seat, well-constructed story that would make a brilliant movie – she does it using beautiful, spare, intelligent, and amazingly descriptive language. By the time I got to the end of ‘Amie’ I felt as though I’d been to Africa – seen it, touched it, smelled it, heard it… loved it and hated it. Everything that is the truth of the country is there in this book. Can I give it six stars please? It deserves it. (Amie an African Adventure)
The author certainly has an excellent grasp of words. Considering her background I suppose this should have been foreseen but, in my experience, it is not always so. Her way of conveying scenes, emotions, tensions etc. draws you in. You have absolutely no trouble visualising the situations, frustrations, disappointments, apprehensions and fears Amie encounters and experiences.
Special Excerpt:
This is part of the prologue when Amie is in prison.
Hope flared briefly. Her captors had realized she was innocent. They’d never accused her of anything sensible, and she still didn’t know why she’d been arrested. She knew she’d done nothing wrong. Her thoughts ran wild, and she tried to convince herself the nightmare was over at last.
All the doors on either side of the corridor were closed, as they half carried, half dragged her towards the opening in the archway at the end. The closer they got, against all reason, her hopes just grew and grew. They were going to set her free. She was going home.
As they shoved her through the open doorway, she screwed up her eyes against the bright light, and when she opened them, it was to see they were in a bare courtyard, surrounded on three sides by high walls. As she looked around, she could see there was no other exit leading to the outside world.
Then she saw the stake in the ground on the far side, and brutally they dragged her towards it. She thought of trying to resist, but she was too weak, and there was too much pain. It was difficult to walk, so she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, determined not to give the soldiers or police or whoever they were, any satisfaction. She would show as much dignity as she could.
The skinny one pushed her against the post, took another long piece of sheeting from his pocket and tied it around her chest, fixing her firmly to the wood. She glanced down at the ground and was horrified to see large brown stains in the dust.
Not freedom; this was the end. She squeezed her eyes shut, determined not to let the tears run down her cheeks, but the sound of marching feet forced her to open them again. She saw four more men, all dressed in brown uniforms, with the all-too-familiar guns who had lined up on the other side of the courtyard opposite her. They were a rough-looking bunch, their uniforms were ill fitting and stained, and their boots were unpolished and covered in dust.
She was trembling all over. She didn’t know whether to keep her eyes open to see what was going on, or close them and pretend this was all a terrible dream. She was torn. Part of her wanted it all to end now, but still a part of her wanted to scream, ‘let me live! Please, please let me live!’
The big fat man barked commands and she heard the sounds of guns being broken open as he walked to each of them handing out ammunition, then with the safety catches off, they shuffled into position.
To her horror, she felt a warm trickle of liquid running down the inside of her thighs. At this very last moment, she had lost both her control and her dignity. They had not even offered her a blindfold, so she closed her eyes again and tried to remember happier times, before the nightmare started. Briefly, she glanced up at the few fluffy white clouds floating high in the sky as the order to fire was given.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucinda E Clarke has been a professional writer for over 30 years, scripting for both radio and television. She’s had numerous articles published in several national magazines, written mayoral speeches and advertisements. She currently writes a monthly column in a local publication in Spain. She once had her own newspaper column, until the newspaper closed down, but says this was not her fault!
Three of her books have been bestsellers in genre on Amazon on both sides of the Atlantic, she has won over 20 awards for scripting, directing, concept and producing, and had two educational text books published. Sadly these did not make her the fortune she dreamed of to allow her to live in luxury.
Lucinda has also worked on radio – on one occasion with a bayonet at her throat – appeared on television and met and interviewed some of the world’s top leaders. She set up and ran her own video production company, producing a variety of programmes, from advertisements to corporate and drama documentaries on a vast range of subjects.
In total she has lived in eight different countries, run the ‘worst riding school in the world’, and cleaned toilets to bring in the money. When she handled her own divorce, Lucinda made legal history in South Africa. Now, pretending to be retired, she gives occasional talks and lectures to special interest groups and finds retirement the most exhausting time of her life so far; but says there is still so much to see and do, she is worried she won’t have time to fit it all in.
To my Readers
If you have enjoyed this book, or even if you didn’t like it, please take a few minutes to write a review. Reviews are very important to authors and I would certainly value your feedback. Thank you.
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web page: lucindaeclarkeauthor.com
Or by email: lucindaeclarke@gmail.com
Blog: http://lucindaeclarke.wordpress.com
Twitter: @LucindaEClarke
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Also by Lucinda E Clarke
The first autobiography which relates Lucinda’s horrendous relationship with her mother and her travels to various countries.
Truth, Lies and Propaganda
The first of two books explaining how Lucinda ‘fell’ into writing for a living – her dream since childhood. It began when she was fired from her teaching job, and crashed out in an audition at the South African Broadcasting Corporation. In a quirky turn of fate, she found herself writing a series on how to care for domestic livestock, she knew absolutely nothing about cows, goats and chickens. And it all continued from there.
More Truth, Lies and Propaganda
Tales of filming in deep rural Africa, meeting a ram with an identity crisis, a house that disappears, the forlorn bushmen and a video starring a very dead rat. You will never believe anything you watch on television ever again.
Amie and the Child of Africa
As Amie goes in search of the child she fostered before the civil war broke out she encounters a terrorist organization with international connections. She is not alone, but one of her friends will betray her.
All her books are available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback.
I’m a big fan of Lucinda’s work.
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