Call of the Chathams

It has been said that if the world was turned on its side, all the loose change would land on the Chatham Islands.

'Call of the Chathams' book one, is a powerful saga that traces the lives of complex characters drawn together by the fickle fingers of fate.

Dan, of Northern Ireland, far from being the superhero, was on the run from the IRA before going to sea as a merchantman. He came ashore in Louisiana and carried his guitar from the House of the Rising Sun in New Orleans up the Mississippi to Nashville before returning to sea.

Based in Liverpool, the music of his band 'Creeping Jesus' introduced him to the love of Rose.

Manpowered into WW2, the cruel North Sea staked its claim, leaving Dan shellshocked, suffering from mental health and alcohol addiction. After the murder of 'One of England's Finest' Army officers Dan was on the run again.

As a Merchantman he worked on the trading ship servicing the Chatham Islands and came ashore to find humor, scallywags and the generosity of its people despite their tragic history of violent exploitation.

With the ghost of Rose hovering, he found the love of Molly while being pursued by the mysterious 'Man in the Black Bowler Hat'.

Val is married to Lois (Ngati Mutunga. Irish, Portuguese) and lived in suburbia Auckland with four children and a boring job. In 1975, Lois, after returning from a visit to the Chathams with her mother Molly Remihana Taupae, the family, in a van and $100, moved to the Chathams.Crayfishing and Paua diving for 15 years before they purchased the Hotel and, with family, developed group tourism in partnership with Air Chathams. Now retired from the Hotel and with Lois, the passionate, creative gardener and artist, they developed her 70-hectare property Marakarpia into a tourist destination.A passion for adventure and walking up hills took Val to Nepal and Everest Base Camp, Bhutan, India, Peru. On the many boring red-eye flights and a waning memory led to the writing of essays which became his published book 'Imagine'.'The Call of the Chathams' is a book of fiction except for the bits that are true.