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Morgana MacArthur's Tradewind Island
Trade Wind Island weaves an ancient people's legend into the soul of one modern man, Mac Freeman, an obituary clerk for a Chicago newspaper. Running from the constraints of everyday obligations, Mac boards a plane to an island off the coast of Belize, leaving behind his job, his responsibilities, and his life. He meets the spicy Miranda Bolero whose good looks, Spanish temperament, and secretive ways intrigue Mac beyond his imagination. As Mac explores the jagged coastline, the lively marketplace, the Mayan burial mounds, and the mountainous terrain of the island, he meets several personalities who seem hauntingly familiar, but who Mac can't remember having met before.
Miranda becomes Mac's island tour guide, convinced that he is the one who will replace her Aunt Mahalia as protector of the island and solstice to dead souls. Ancient history hoped for a bearded white man who would travel across the sea to free the Mexican people from the Aztecs and usher in a new age of peace. Miranda believes that Mac is that contemporary legend.
At the crest of Wicket Hill, Mac meets Mahalia Foster, the old weathered woman who possesses the gift of listening--to the deceased. As Mahalia takes interest in Mac as her replacement, she reveals her cathartic power as a channeler. Mac hears story after story, never before written nor whispered by the living. These first-time tales ride in on the trade winds and purge the guilt, envy, betrayal, and pain of the spirits. Mac soon realizes that the familiar yet mysterious island acquaintances are some of those very souls--recent fatalities that he once immortalized in his obituary column. The position of channeler becomes very real, very connecting, and very possible for him to consider accepting.
The consequences of a brutal tropical storm result in Mac fleeing the island and returning to Chicago. Miranda unwillingly follows, and the news of the death of Mahalia results in a revelation that combines passion, tragedy, and beauty all in one. Mahalia's own special story, delivered to the Windy City via a winter blizzard, offers a soothing answer to Miranda's past and clarifies for Mac the direction of his future.
Stunningly beautiful scenes of the island, steamy episodes between Mac and Miranda, and mystical Mayan wisdom from Mahalia make Trade Wind Island an intriguing book, one that will be a read superior to my first novel The Ditchwalkers.
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