Willows for Weeping

On the Road meets Endless Summer as Tim Baker, bestselling author of Occy, High Surf and Bustin' Down the Door, embarks on the classic surfing road trip around Australia. All surfers dream of shedding responsibilities and answering the siren's call of ocean swells. For most, it is an ideal that recedes as age advances - as family, career and provider fatigue threatens to overwhelm the wanderlust of youth. But what if you could defy the slow march of age? Shelve all your worldly pressures, pack up the family and a few trusty surfboards and hit the open road for the Great Australian surfing road trip? Inspired by the dreams of his youth, surf writer Tim Baker embarks on the Big Lap in search of the perfect wave and domestic bliss. Surfari documents the state of surf culture and our coastline, and the array of colourful characters who inhabit these parts, evoking all the magic, charm and challenges such a lifestyle entails. It is a story for anyone who has ever dreamed of an alternative to the busy, micro-scheduled existence of work, school, shopping and the daily drudge. The result is a lively, colourful account of what happens when you trade your life for another variety, and the delights and dangers that lay in wait when you dare to chase your dreams and follow another path. Janna has joined a band of pilgrims en route to Oxeneford. Along their journey she finds a dead man carrying a letter bearing the seal of Henry, Bishop of Winchester, now a supporter of the Empress Matilda. Bernard, the leader of the pilgrims, swears Janna to secrecy, and undertakes to deliver the letter to the empress in Oxeneford, where the empress is making preparations to claim the crown. Will Janna find the answers she seeks in Ambresberie? Dashing newcomer Ralph has promised to help Janna with her quest to find her father - but can he be trusted? And with the empress routed by the queen and her mercenary army, and evidence of Bishop Henry's treachery in Janna's own hand, what does the future hold for the empress and her supporters - and for Janna?