Chalk Circle Writers congratulate Stuart Condie on the launch of his debut novel The Uganda Sails Wednesday - shortlisted for the Retreat West First Novel Prize 2019.
Join Stuart Condie and publishers RedDoor Press to celebrate the launch of The Uganda Sails Wednesday.
Thursday 24 September 2020 at 19:30-20:30 BST. This is an online event including a live interview with Stuart and audience questions. Tickets at £9.99 include an advance signed copy.
If you are unable to attend the launch, Stuart's book can also be purchased via the Chalk Circle online shop.
RedDoor Press - 'A claustrophobic drama perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks'.
It is 1960 and as the SS Uganda steams her way to Africa, tea plantation manager William Fontwell is left wondering why his wife and son are travelling so urgently to see him.
On board, Heather and Johnny Fontwell make friends amongst passengers and crew. But with the temperature rising, bigotry and jealousies emerge, and Heather is subjected to a series of unpleasant incidents that risk her secrets being exposed.
Events take a tragic turn before they dock at Mombasa, and William arrives at the port to confront a captain and crew who seem to be hiding the truth.
The SS Uganda has a rich history, as a passenger-cargo liner, school cruise ship, and hospital ship and troopship during the Falklands War. The Uganda Sails Wednesday is the first of a trilogy which puts the ship at the heart of the stories of the Fontwell family, their friends and the ship's crew.
Stuart Condie: 'The genesis of the novel was a short story featuring the Uganda in a wreckers’ yard in Taiwan which won the Sentinel Quarterly Short Story Competition. It is the first of a planned trilogy charting both the story of the fictional Fontwell family and that of the real SS Uganda from colonial passenger cargo liner, schools’ cruise ship (on which I worked in 1975), to floating hospital during the Falklands conflict. The Uganda conveyed around half a million passengers plus crew and military from her maiden voyage in 1952 until her final journey in 1986. In any audience I always find one or two who sailed on her, usually as school students, all with a keen interest in knowing more about the ship.'