Before the Daisies Grow:
Capers of the Glamour Grans Book One
by Micki
Street
Description
Toss the bloomers,
get a bikini wax and slip into a thong: life begins at sixty-ish for three
gallivanting grans.
Dotty, Wilma and
Nora are going on holiday to the island of Brazzina. Unfortunately for them,
their charming host Lucas is a drug baron who plans to use his silver beauties
as opium mules.
Enter Major
Milestone, a yummy gentleman who has Dotty's heart doing the tango. Although
he's going to Brazzina too, he keeps resisting her amorous advances, and it's
giving Dotty the vapors. But after the Major [does something dramatic], Dotty
realizes she and her friends have just been kidnapped, and it's up to her to
engineer their escape. Dotty enacts a hare-brained scheme only to discover two
things. One: she may be hot, but she's not so hot at fool-proof plans, and two:
the Major was on a covert mission to capture Lucas and destroy the island's
opium plantations.
With the mission
near-scuppered and Milestone now suspicious the ladies are in cahoots with
Lucas, Dotty must find some way to win her Major's heart back. If she doesn't,
the soft Brazzina surf is going to be the only thing kissing her toes anytime
soon!
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
Three lives connected since teenage years
Held a future with no fears.
They reached adulthood and followed their dreams
Nothing panned out, so it seems.
When they met to exchange their news
Dotty was firm with her irreverent views.
What did Nora and Wilma care?
Their friendship, still so ever dear.
Nora chose an early marriage
Desperate to push a baby’s carriage.
However, life was not all marital bliss
After twenty-five years, hubby blew one final kiss.
He is moving in with a beautiful young dolly
Nora was furious with his mad folly.
She brought out a knife and threatened to lop
His manhood off with one quick chop.
Wilma’s life was great until
A hasty decision to chuck the pill
And marry John, her boyfriend of years
Before her biological clock disappears.
In quick succession, three children had she
But John decided he wanted to be free.
He emigrated to Alaska to pack fish
Out of her life, he did vanish.
Dotty the oldest and impetuous one
Certainly knew how to have fun.
A blissful marriage of years by forty
Sex was euphoric and rather naughty.
But alas, this wasn't to last much longer
Sydney, her husband, the silly codger,
Climbed the ladder, a hedge to trim
A car knocked him off and broke every limb.
Three people entwined forever more
Must cram their lives with fun galore
As golden years pass in a flash
It’s time to venture with a bash.
Nora and Wilma are not too keen
Age is creeping and wrinkles are seen.
“Nonsense,” says Dotty, a destination she will find
Never forget, “age is a state of mind”.
(Note: Only the Prologue is in verse.)
Review
Three women in their
sixties decide it is time to go on Holiday, after much debate and consideration
taking into account the message from Dotty's deceased husband through the make
shift Ouija Board, they all decide to travel to Zanzibar. But when Dotty meets
a handsome stranger in a bar who tells her all about the fun she can have in
Brazzina the plan soon changes and they are off to this West African Island for
some fun in the sun. What they don't realize is that the island is not quite
what it was made out to be and they are soon pulled into the middle of an
investigation and subsequent drug bust.
With one mishap
after another Micki Street comes up with one hilarious novel revolving around
three women who are eccentric and fascinating to follow along as you keep
wondering how in the world they find so much trouble. I wasn't sure what to
expect when I started this novel, I am by far a "Glamour Gran" so I
was worried I wouldn't be able to relate with the characters but as soon as
they boarded the small plane I couldn't help laughing as I myself had clutched
to my husband's hand for dear life in a similar situation, thinking the plain
would surely crash just because I was on it. This isn't the only part I could
relate to but it was the funniest though I did catch myself laughing out loud
at many of the antics these women find themselves in. It was all very well
written and the comedy was flawless.
About the Author
Micki Street lives in the Philippines with her husband, her German
Shepherd and two crazy cats. Her three daughters fled the nest years ago, all
married and delivered her four amazing grandsons, now aged between 6 and 21
years. After her career in tourism, Micki briefly transferred her creativity to
chilli farming in Mozambique. Not a ‘hot’ person, her friends surprisingly
submitted as guinea pigs for her chilli concoctions – none, thankfully,
resorted to the ER.
A couple of years on, Micki began a novel evoking her travel experiences:
her publication debut, Before the
Daisies Grow, follows the capers of three vigorous English grandmothers
who travel into the unknown. The sequel will continue the Grannies’ holiday
farce.
Micki has also written Seduced by
Deceit, currently in the editing process. Yet the bulk of her writing to
date is humorous: Grace My Maid, a jestful
work in progress that portrays a segment of suburban Johannesburg; Marmaduke the Jewel Thief; and The Travel Writer Conman.
Links
