BLURB
Leaving behind the woman he loved and his teaching job in London, Gabe Shaw flies to Indonesia. And with good reason.
Focused and alone – except for Marshall Law, an Indonesian cat with attitude – he finds the perfect hideout in a decaying residential compound. Finally, he begins to write the espionage novels he’s been planning for years.
But like any good spy story, the past never stays buried. An earthquake shatters Gabe’s routine, followed by an even greater shock: his ex-girlfriend has tracked him down. Impulsive where Gabe is cautious, playful where he’s guarded, Michelle rattled his carefully built lifestyle once before. Now she wants to do it again. What she doesn’t know is that Gabe planted the clue she used to find him. Their reunion plays out like one of Gabe’s stories, with betrayal, bluffs and double bluffs, rogue agents and a love that knows no borders.
Change of Lifestyle is a heartfelt second chance love story about teaching, espionage, and risking everything to live your dreams.
THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
Change of Lifestyle was inspired by my return from working overseas as a primary teacher to state schools in England. It’s about how two very different teachers attempt to face the difficulties of working in a pretty much broken system. One, Gabe, tries to block the holes in the dam with his fingers by doing the best he can – at the expense of his own personal ambitions and hopes. the other, Michelle, wants to blow the whole dam up so everyone can see the damage.
The problem? They’re in a relationship with each other.
It’s also inspired by a compound I lived in in Indonesia, and by a holiday I once took in Budapest. So it’s very much a tale of three cities: London, Jakarta and Budapest.
FURTHER READING
Blog Post: Writing Lessons from a blog post Novella
Blog Post: Using a cat in literary fiction
Blog Post: Pop Culture allusions in fiction
Blog Post: How teacher burnout inspired Change of Lifestyle
Blog Post: 10 reasons to read Change of Lifestyle
Blog Post: What’s wrong with Indonesian cats’ tails?
Blog Post: Ondel Ondel: Guardians of Jakarta