In The Poetโs Secret, Elia Aloundra, a young lit student, sees the reclusive poet Cameron Beck recite a poem at a campus pub before he vanishesโfor a second time. Ten years earlier, Beck had dropped from the public eye leaving only an acclaimed collection of odes to an anonymous muse and a decade of speculation over his disappearance.
Elia sets off in search of Beck, longing to know the man whose words have moved her so, hoping perhaps the ghost poet will unveil the secret to eternal love. What she doesnโt know is that as her quest begins, Beck is perched atop a cliff on a remote Caribbean island and about to attempt suicide. As Elia faces off with Beckโs protective circle on the exotic island hideaway, the same island where decades earlier a Spanish shipwreck entombing mystical Aztec relics was found, she finds herself swept up in the mystery of the muse. What Elia cannot fathom is that Beckโs secret will change both their lives forever.
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Author Kenneth Zak conceived of The Poetโs Secret in a
taverna on the island of Crete. At the time, he was on a
three-year sabbaticalโan adult โtime out,โ recovering
from a life that had left him feeling hollow. For months
he
wrote, swam with sea turtles in the Aegean Sea and
disappeared into the remote, antiquated Greek village of
Avdou. He dedicated himself to โliving in the present,โ
and says, โSo many miracles happened during those
months. I experienced a cleansing, a healing and an
awakening, and I began to perceive light and water and
imagery and words and the people around me like never
before.โ
Ken eventually returned to California, and then traveled
to Bali, Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cambodia and
South America, following the sea and surf with laptop in
hand and continuing to write. As an avid surfer and free
diver, Kenโs life โhas always been about the water. On so
many occasions water has saved me, water has healed
me, and water has reset my compass when I have been
spinning in some uncontrollable vortex. So for me, my
life
and my love seem to be tied to returning to the great
aquatic source, again and again, maybe just to fill the
chasm that still exists in me, and maybe to some degree
still exists in all of us.โ
To be published by Penju Publishing in October 2015, an
early draft of The Poetโs Secret was selected as a Golden
Heartยฎ Award finalist in romantic suspense by Romance
Writers of America. Penju Publishing is a member of 1%
for the
Planet, and for every copy of The Poetโs Secret sold, $1
will also be donated to The Surfrider Foundation, an
organization dedicated to preserving the earthโs oceans,
waves and beaches.
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