Teardrop

Published by Indie Novella, September 2024

As a girl, Jazz Barthelot knew that a gecko falling on your right side foretold a sudden death. But what place do aunties’ tales have in the rapidly modernising island of Ceylon, and how to navigate the shifting sands of home?

In 1950s Ceylon, trying to forge her own way while British rule collapses, Jazz begins her new life as a journalist – when a gecko falls on the right side...

A body is discovered in the state reservoir, and Jazz accompanies seasoned crime reporter Sonny to the Eastern Province. Jazz quickly learns her trade as they travel between spice markets and hopper stalls, interviewing Tamils, expats, and indigenous tribes, following leads that dry up quickly under the hot sun.

Pulled between old and new worlds, between languages, and families, Jazz and Sonny must decide if their future remains on the teardrop island, and whether crimes can be left in the past.

The Chronicles of Harriet Shelley

Writing as Sarah Roux

When beautiful Harriet Westbrook meets the young rebel, Percy Shelley, he promises her a new life. Eloping when she turns sixteen, the couple lead a wandering lifestyle, befriending political rebels, thinkers and philosophers, including William Godwin and his complicated family.

In the present day, Matt, a student and young father battles with the complexities of young parenthood and a failing romance, finding solace in his aunt’s quest into the past and his growing fascination with the novel, Frankenstein.

CONTAINED WITHIN THE PAGES OF HARRIET'S STORY LIE THE ORIGINS OF THE FRANKENSTEIN TALE AND THE SUGGESTION OF AN EVEN GREATER LEGACY.

A Painted Samovar

Writing as Sarah Roux

Isaac, a Jewish cabinet maker fleeing his troubles in the Pale of Settlement, arrives in the East End searching for a measure of peace. When he falls in love and marries his employer’s daughter Sophie, he believes he can turn his life around. But with the outbreak of war, his new world begins to unravel. Still traumatised from his younger days in the Tsar’s Army, he is too afraid to fight in the trenches for his adopted country and after months of prevarication he is sent back to Russia in 1917. Cast adrift in the boiling cauldron of revolution, he holds onto the memory of Sophie and their children as he struggles to survive. Travelling through the chaotic landscape with his friend Max, Isaac finds his inner strength and courage in a remarkable set of adventures, as he embarks on his epic journey home. Lamenting one of history's forgotten footnotes, A Painted Samovar weaves the tale of one man’s mistakes and misfortunes and an extraordinary twist of fate…