Thirty Seconds Before Midnight

What happens when the old money runs out and the new money rolls in? Welcome to Bestwood, a dilapidated estate in the wilds of the English countryside where Herbert, a giant land tortoise presides over the tatty menagerie. The zookeeper, Bob, and his daughter Stella are mystified when rock legend Dave Palmer arrives with his twin sons; that is, until they announce their plans to reinvent Bestwood as ‘Palmer Springs – Where Hope Is Eternal’ – a luxury refuge for creative souls – and no place for a menagerie. This contemporary retelling of the classic Greek myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, takes sex, drugs and rock and roll, mixes them up with doses of evolution and pantheism and swings between comedy and tragedy.

What happens when the old money runs out and the new money rolls in? Welcome to Bestwood, a dilapidated estate in the wilds of the English countryside where Herbert, a giant land tortoise presides over the tatty menagerie. The zookeeper, Bob, and his daughter Stella are mystified when rock legend Dave Palmer arrives with his twin sons; that is, until they announce their plans to reinvent Bestwood as ‘Palmer Springs – Where Hope Is Eternal’ – a luxury refuge for creative souls – and no place for a menagerie. This contemporary retelling of the classic Greek myth, Orpheus and Eurydice, takes sex, drugs and rock and roll, mixes them up with doses of evolution and pantheism and swings between comedy and tragedy.

Helen J Beal is the author of three novels - Thirty Seconds Before Midnight, Rich in Small Things and Riding a Tiger and a collection of short stories - Half a Dozen Star Jumps. Helen is a British writer living in Chichester on the south coast of England and is an English Literature and Language alumni of London University.