New fiction writing as
C. C. Hauke
Chris has completed two novels and the next is in progress. The first is titled:
The Bus and its Driver
The manuscript is out with readers and agents now that Chris/Covel has completed the fourth complete draft.
The story is set in Sicily in 1980 - a young man decides to stow away on a tourist bus to see where it takes him. This leads not only to a life changing experience for him and the other passengers, but - as in the Canterbury Tales - along the way we hear all their own stories which have brought them to this moment.
The illustrations below show Antonio their driver standing by his Iveco 370, and the Alfa Romeo on the roadside as Wayne and Fergal return to Noto.
A collection of ten short stories is already finished and this may be published at the same time as "The Bus and its Drive." The working title (taken from one of the stories) is: "The History of Movement Mooz"
The second novel completed in 2023 is
LANDSCAPE
Chris has completed writing Landscape and finished the third draft. This novel which reminds several readers of Dickens and has been called a 'superbly researched romp' is based on the struggles of a painter in the Regency period between 1795 and 1805. Beginning as a poorly educated boy and starting out as scene-painter for the theatre our hero Max Buchan survives encounters with the London underworld and after many other adventures with the Romany community finds some fame with his watercolour landscapes.The last two paintings below are by a contemporary of Turner and Constable - David Cox (1783-1859) whose work anticipated the Impressionists.
Tryphena
The novel has gone well and the characters are so appealing Chris has completed the second draft of a sequel called Tryphena He finished this stage on 11th November after starting back in mid-January! We follow several characters we have met before (and new ones from the Luddite days in 1811 Lancashire) when they cross the Atlantic to early New York City. They then proceed up the Hudson River Valley and by various ways fall in with the native Americans Indians in that area. Along the way Max Buchan and a new hero Adam Rideout meet challenges and conflicts with villains new and others we met before! Central to the story is Tryphena Lovell - a wounded young gypsy woman who moves to America and triumphs in the end.
The author of Peculiar Ground (4th Estate) Lucy Hughes-Hallett has read the first five chapters and found the story and writing gripping. She is keen to read the rest and says Chris "really knows what he is doing!"
