DECEMBER, 2018
THE RIGEL AFFAIR
By: L. M. Hedrick
The Plot:
Abandoned by his part-Cherokee Ma,
Charlie Kincaid escapes servitude with his
uncle. He jumps a boxcar, accompanied
by his schoolmate Roxy, who is escaping
troubles of her own. Charlie becomes a
US Navy diver.
Mattie Blanc is from a genteel New
Zealand family. But when her brother‟s
friend persuades her to take a ride, it all
goes horribly wrong. Desperate, she flees
her family‟s stifling expectations for a new
life in Auckland.
After the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Charlie sets sail for
Auckland aboard the USS Rigel. And there she is, the girl of his
dreams. Mattie is everything that Roxy isn‟t—sophisticated,
tender, and patient. But the war intervenes…Rigel embarks for
the Pacific war zones.
Charlie‟s letters are sporadic. Mattie is tormented by
doubts; did he truly love her, or was it only a dream?
Available in Print and E-Book At:
Black Rose Writing
Amazon
BN
An Excerpt
Whenever Charlie caught a moment, he snuck off his clothes
and dropped them behind the bushes down by the railings of the
old bridge below the farmhouse in Falkner, Mississippi. It was
the summer of 1937. He liked to watch the murky Muddy Creek
waters ripple in the sunlight and bend their way towards town.
Charlie waited for the wind to settle, just to catch that safe
glimpse of the bottom in his favorite swimming hole. With a
splash, he had the soft mud against his belly, a place of comfort,
where for a short while nobody could find him or harm him. He
pushed off the bottom, rising until he hovered in the warm top
layer, with the sun on his back, washing away the fears of yester-
day. He gulped air and headed back to the bottom. The soft mud
soothed his wretched soul. Rising out of the water like a new-
born seal, he scrambled up the steep bank and wriggled back into
his overalls. His uncle would be looking for him.
***** The Red Headed Book Lover Wrote: “Overall The
Rigel Affair is a stunning piece of fiction that will thrill and excite
its readers, and so I have no choice but to award this brilliant
book five stars!”
Author Contact Info:
Prices:
Print: $20.95
E-Book: $8.05
Length: 328 Pages
Heat Level: R
Website
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Biography:
Lynette grew up listening to her mother, Mattie‟s, stories about her WWII love for US Navy diver Charlie.
She used Mattie‟s thirty letters from Charlie, and together with her insightful editor/advisor husband, Bud, they
completed extensive research to give reality to The Rigel Affair. Lynette has published multiple short stories for
NZ magazines. Both Lynette and Bud have completed numerous creative writing courses at Auckland Univer-
sity. Lynette is an accomplished expressionist artist, with works sold internationally.
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