Colin Belk

Strip the Willow Colin Belk

Over the summer of 1911 in the vast outer reaches of the Ukraine, a place where few people live, a wild eighteen-year-old Gypsy girl named Natasha is allowed to run free. She meets Nick Rostov, a Russian boy, and falls in love with him in the simmering summer heat. He is two years her senior, but still just a boy. Running wild together, they become intimate during their summer of love. It isn't long before Natasha becomes pregnant and marries Nick. Natasha is forced to leave Russia and her own family behind when Nick's family decides to immigrate to America for a better life. They walk to France and cross the Channel to England, arriving to the news of the Titanic sinking. Natasha is by now heavy with child and very frightened. She wants to go back home to her mother, but is convinced that it is better for all the Rostovs to stick together and continue on to America. Natasha's baby is born at sea, two days out of New York. She arrives in New York and is terrified of the big city. When Nick runs into trouble holding down a job, and is eventually murdered, Natasha finds herself running from her husband's killers. This young mother tries to flee from all her troubles, but discovers that eventually you have to face your fears and fight back. Strip the Willow is epic storytelling at its best. About the Author: Colin Belk lives in New Zealand and has already finished his next book. Publisher's website: http://www.sbpra.com/colinbelk