Owen Clough
Leaving school at the age of fourteen, Owen travelled around New Zealand on a working holiday. Then at the age of seventeen joined the Royal New Zealand Airforce, where he spent eleven years on different bases including time overseas.
He married his wife Kaye at twenty and they are still together today. Over the years he's had various jobs from driving the big red buses in Christchurch to selling dairy products.
He owned two businesses, a coffee bar/tearooms, and a limousine. Then in 1995 he joined the tourist tram operation in Christchurch and spent the next twenty years with the company, including a year in Auckland helping to set up their operation.
After surviving the devastating earthquakes of 2010 in Christchurch they sold their home after it was repaired, and both Owen and Kaye hit the road in their 5th wheel motor-home. He is now retired, they have two grown children and one Granddaughter.
Owen, a keen Genealogist, motor caravanner, and rugby fanatic with a love of history, has put his hobbies to good use.
He always wondered what it would be like to live back in the turbulent times of New Zealand's history and wrote his first book with this in mind. 'WHISPERS OF THE PAST' is a historical fiction and the first book of a trilogy.
The second book is 'Shadows of the Mind' and 'Clearing of the Mist' rounds up the three-book series.
Genre:
- Adult Fiction
Skills:
Branch:
Central Districts
Location:
Takapau
Publications:
Whispers of the Past
Sam is employed by the Department of Conservation (DoC). His two mates are helping out. Their task is to clear out as many feral pigs as they can in the Tongariro National Park, which is located in the North Island of New Zealand. There are three major volcanoes within this park so the culling of the pigs has to be done with great care as there are an abundant amount of thermal pools, mud pools and, of course, volcanoes. In the high country of New Zealand, the weather can be very fickle, going from warm to cold within minutes. The three friends draw even closer as they get caught up in a weather pattern with a difference. Mist, sulphur and rain envelop them and propel them back to the start of the New Zealand Wars of 1863. Three modern blokes, with all the paraphernalia of the 21st century, running around in the past, confused, lost, and trying to stay out of harm's way, once they realise where they are. Will they get home? Will they change history? This is their story.
Shadows of the Mind
Samuel McInnes aka Mack, severely wounded in the attack on Auckland in 1863, recovered consciousness on HMS Esk heading to Scotland via Sydney, Australia. Sam is mistakenly repatriated to Scotland as the army believe this is where he is from. With loss of memory, his life becomes complicated, as he falls for a young nurse on the voyage who has a secret that she will not reveal to him until he is fully recovered. Out of place, out of sync, he finds himself in an alien world. Memories from another time come and go as he tries to adjust to his new life. He struggles to remember who he is and how he came to be here, while always hoping his memory will return. Will he get home to his own century? The second book in the Whispers trilogy.
Clearing of the mist
The Synopsis.
The third and final book in the Whispers of the Past trilogy.
Thirty years have passed since Sam, and his mates went through the mist to the year 1863. Thirty years ago Sam received his head wounds in the attack on Auckland. Since then Sam's memory had not returned. Until a disastrous trip to Rhodesia with his wife, Bella, changes his life once again. Returning to the UK slowly his memory clears.
Out of the blue, he is summoned by Queen Victoria to meet a Maori delegation from New Zealand. At this encounter, his memory is jolted when he is reunited with old enemies and friends from his past. Before leaving the palace, he is further requested to attend an audience with the Prince Regent.
The story that comes from this meeting will send dangerous consequences around the Empire. Government agents don't want him or his party to arrive at their destination, and Sam needs all his wits, including the help from his friends to keep everyone safe. His priority, find the cave and wait for the mist if it is still there. Then slip back to his own century and safety.
The last book in the Whispers trilogy.