The Man With Green Fingers

When we meet somebody for the first time, we assume they are the person they say they are, but could we - and should we - look more closely ? Behind the normal facades of some people there lurk secrets they would kill you over... Set on the colourful island of Cyprus, amid the British expatriate community, The Man With Green Fingers tells the startling story of three people. Painstakingly researched and crisply told, the author brings to light a bizarre situation and creates a story that will stay in your mind long after you have finished reading.

Stella crossed over on to the shaded side of the street. There was nobody about. The early July sun blasted down the Skipos avenue and beat against the whitewashed walls of the houses, their shutters closed against the heat, and that heat ricocheted off back in to the air which was heavy with post-luncheon sleep and thick with the feel and scents of Cypriot summer. Her hand-bag, laden with emergency-repair make-up, felt moderately heavy slung as it was over one shoulder. The elaborate scarf she had tied artistically around her neck, with a pretty little butterfly clasp to hold it in place was now limp, like a fading plant. Although Stella would have enjoyed a love affair, she accepted with inherent patience that it just wasn’t possible. That was an advantage to being a bit older – age gives you wisdom, she thought, and she never minded her forty-eight years. Only the most unusual circumstances and only the most private and secure position would allow her to even consider a love affair; and while these conditions did not present themselves to her, there was no way she was going out to look for them. In fact, it could ruin everything. It is odd, she reflected, as she made her way rapidly up the steep incline of the Panayia, how people relate everything to sex. Here in Cyprus, back in England, all over the world, all men relate all things to sex and many women do too. Her heels, unsuitable for the cobbled surface of the road, but worn with stalwart insistence, made loud clicking noises as she walked. Her ankles were slightly swollen from the heat in high heels and this made her smile faintly – women do have these problems to contend with, she thought. Sex, however, was not one of her problems. To be enfolded in the arms of somebody who loved her would be … lovely, she decided. But it wasn’t going to happen, so that was the end of that.

Catherine Broughton is a writer, poet and artist (published). Books out now, all best sellers, are “French Sand”, “The Man With Green Fingers”, “Saying Nothing” and “A Call From France”. Available from most leading retailers and on most leading e-books. Catherine is also the author of a series of books for toddlers “The Lovely and Very Nice Stories of Baby Black Rabbit. Her poetry is published in a variety of magazines and poetry publications, to include a small collection called “Grass Grows”. Asked if she intends to continue writing Catherine replied: “I don’t know. It is extraordinarily difficult to get published. I’ve got another book in my head and I may write it in a year’s time or so. I am busy with our holiday complex (www.holidaychateaufrance.com) in France, and we travel a lot …… so, we’ll see!” Catherine Broughton was born in South Africa, the second of seven children. Her father, a Somerset man, was a doctor of tropical disease and his work took the family all over the world. They spent many exciting years in various parts of Africa, the South Pacific, Switzerland and, later, Spain, Belize and France. This life of travel is reflected in her novels. For many years Catherine did illustrations almost uniquely for charity cards, or for her church, and has only relatively recently branched out in to further sketching. Several of her sketches have been used in magazines. She is the author many articles, poems and short stories as well as her novels. She exhibits her art work a at fund-raisers only, and she sells them in aid of Amnesty International. Catherine Broughton attended London University where she did a BA (Hons) in French; in later years she also achieved a BA (Hons) in History of Art with the OU. She is happily married with three children and two grandchildren. She lives mostly in the UK with extended patches in France and in Belize. - See more at: http://www.turquoisemoon.co.uk/about/#sthash.JwGhduZu.dpuf