Feel free to read the synopsis of the novel which I am hoping to publish.
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Strung out and suicidal, MacIntyre wakes from a drunken sleep in Cornwall to find a young girl at the window of his car. She calls herself Charley and, from the moment the 43 year old, ex-marine Falklands veteran meets her, he is hooked. Charley bears an unsettling resemblance to MacIntyre's estranged 19 year old daughter Kirsty, appears to him to be a runaway and, he soon discovers, is apparently going 'anywhere'.

In soliloquy, MacIntyre recalls his escape from deep despair: A broken marriage, enforced separation from his two teenage daughters, the disappearance of his criminal business partner Jack Reynolds, drunken, unprovoked Falmouth fights and failed attempts to take his own life. Similarly, she withdraws - but to her happy childhood in Norfolk and London - hiding a dark secret of her own whilst gradually becoming drawn to his tragic past.

Sassy, bright, sensitive and stunningly pretty, Charley flirts with MacIntyre and is an instant hit with his colourful friends, David and Rosie Patience, whose narrowboat the pair take on a leisurely cruise along the Thames. They revel in boozy sessions at riverside pubs and, over intimate meals, Charley probes him for the source of his problems, manifest in guilt, isolation, depression, violent rages and intrusive thoughts. They both take comfort from the homespun philosophy and easy wit of Tina, Australian 'earth-mother' and barmaid, at one of their stops.