Chasing Chris Campbell
by Genevieve Gannon
Violet is saving money: living on rice and beans and denying herself chocolate eclairs all in the name of saving for a home deposit. Once they save enough, she and Michael can buy a house, settle down and live happily ever after. But when Michael does the unthinkable, Violet is forced to rethink her life choices.
A chance encounter with Chris Campbell (first love, boy-next-door, The One That Got Away) spurs her into travelling to exotic locations she never dreamed she'd explore - Hong Kong, Vietnam, Varanasi - on a quest to catch up with Chris and lead a life of adventure. Armed with hand sanitiser and the encouraging texts of her twin sister Cassandra, will Violet find true love before it's too late? Or will the nerve-wracking experience of travelling send her back to Melbourne in search of safety and stability? Can she work out what she really wants before she is left with nothing?
Excerpt:
When I first moved in after the motorcycle fiasco, I only planned to stay at Mum and Dad’s for a few nights to cool off. But after the big bust-up at the Tanner house party the weeks had passed in a blur of bars and hangovers. Soon I was several weeks into the new year with nowhere else to go.
One Saturday night, when I couldn’t face going out again, my fourteen-year-old brother, Zach, came into the room and lay on the end of my bed.
‘Cass, why is Vy sad?’ he asked my sister who was watching me from my bedroom door.
‘It’s nothing Zachman,’ I said. ‘I’m just sleepy.’
Cass joined Zach on the end of my bed.
‘Cass, what am I going to do? For the past few years my plan has been to start a life with him.’
‘Make new plans,’ she said gently.
‘My whole life I’ve been waiting get married. To have children. It’s all been a waste.’
Cass didn’t say anything.
The past weeks had been stereo chaos. In between late night parties, I’d somehow managed to unshackle my life from Michael’s. In a haze of hangovers and tears I’d divided our books, our CDs, our crockery and finally our finances. Now, all that was left of my white-picket future was my couch, half a cutlery set, and $22,000.
‘You should take a trip,’ said Cass. ‘You’ve never even left Australia. There’s plenty of time for buying a house and having children later. This is an opportunity to get out on your own. Figure out who you are.’ She opened her laptop. ‘What about a European adventure? Or Poland, Vy? You could visit Nan’s old town.’
I took the computer from her. ‘Maybe. I’d want to go somewhere hot.’
‘But we’ve got family in Poland. They’d take care of you.’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘I don’t know.’
After Cass had gone to bed, I went to my laptop and sifted through some of the travel pages she’d bookmarked. My room was dark and silent. The only sign of life was the glow of the laptop screen and the tap of my fingers on the keys. Pictures of spotless beaches flickered before my eyes. I imagined how the fine sand would feel against my skin. She had flagged pages and pages of suggestions. Next came tiny mountain villages full of houses with thatched roofs. Then the grandeur of Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, its yellow plains pocked with the entrance of tombs. I put my face close to the computer screen, trying to see what lay beyond the tombs’ shadowy entrances. I looked around at my childhood bedroom. I was twenty-seven and it was one of only two homes I’d ever known. The dolls I’d nursed as a child still sat on top of my bookshelf.
A bell heralding a new email rang out, making me jump. When I looked at it my breath caught in my throat. It was from chriscampbell@gmail.com. I quickly clicked on it. The connection stalled.
‘Come on, come on,’ I whispered.
The email opened up on the screen:
Hey Vy,
Great to see you the other night, albeit briefly! Where did you run off to?
Shame we couldn’t catch up. I’m back in Hong Kong now. Working short term contracts while I try to find a real job. I do some hospitality shifts to make a little extra travel money – the Shangri-La and a few others places. Wherever they’ll have me. The night life is amazing here. You should visit some time. You’d love Asia. Come to Asia!
Catcha.
CC
My hands were shaking. Chris Campbell had written to me. He had wanted to spend more time with me. I read it twice. I thought about what he’d said to me and the opportunities I’d missed. I thought about Michael and his need to control everything, his jealousy and bloody-mindedness. I replayed in my head the way Chris had perfectly articulated the way I felt about him. He was the one that got away. But it wasn’t too late. I read the email again. Come to Asia.
Cass’s voice echoed in my head. Figure out who you are. I licked my lips.
Then I booked a plane ticket to Hong Kong.
One way.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Genevieve Gannon is a Melbourne-based journalist and author. She wrote stories for music and fashion street press magazines while at university before moving to Canberra to do a journalism cadetship.In 2011 she joined the national news wire, Australian Associated Press, where she covered crime, politics and entertainment. Her work has appeared in most major Australian newspapers including The Age, The Australian and The Daily Telegraph.
She currently lives in Melbourne where she is a court reporter. At night she writes romantic comedies
https://twitter.com/gen_gannon https://www.facebook.com/GenevieveGannonAuthor/timeline http://www.genevievegannon.com/
Buy Link:
http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Chris-Campbell-Genevieve-Gannon-ebook/dp/B00RKU7QNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1438030103&sr=8-1&keywords=chasing+chris+campbell
I never planned to write romantic comedies.
The first manuscript I completed and submitted to publishers was almost the exact opposite to my books that have now been published. That first attempt was a young adult novel set in the year 3000. The heroes all lived in a reef town and humans had evolved the ability to breathe under water. It was what you’d call cli-fi – climate change fiction – that followed a troupe of young Australian friends on an adventurous quest part the boundaries of their town. Nobody published it, but the encouraging comments in the many, MANY rejection letters inspired me to try again, and the process of completing a story and receiving feedback for it was an important learning experience.
My office is full of murderers.
Two be fair to the two lovely men I share and office with, what I should say is my building is full of murderers. When I was little I thought murderers were the scariest thing. I don’t know what I would have done if you’d told me I’d see them at work every day, but it would have involved nightmares. I cover court proceedings in all of Victoria’s courts but my office is located in the Supreme Court, where the gravest offences are dealt with. You would think that the accused and convicted criminals would be brought in via some secret, hidden, route, but they’re not. They walk the halls like everyone else - though of course cuffed and flanked by guards.
I wrote a chapter of a book on a bus in Croatia.
A few years ago I travelled around Croatia with a girlfriend. After we left Hvar we caught a bus to our next point of call. For some reason the idea for a chapter that slotted perfectly into my current project came to me. I could see every detail, and it unfolded as I scribbled it in long-hand into a diary I was using to keep track of my hotel and flight bookings. I usually get motion sickness when reading or writing on a car or a bus, but for some reason I didn’t on this day.
I never base characters on real people but I like writing inside jokes into the story for my friends
I don’t let the jokes overwhelm the story, but I do like to include a nod or a wink to someone who has helped me with the process, or is a particularly good friend. I was reading a male friend’s thriller a few months ago and I realised he’d named a CIA agent in honour of a mutual friend. I was so jealous!
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