Return to Hunterville and the Manuka Honey Shop

Stuart Duff

Description

Vulnerability, emotion, passion, lust, kindness, caring, tenderness, commitment, respect and the incredible power of a smile - this is William and Aoife's love story. William is a quiet and reflective man from Hunterville in New Zealand, escaping rural loneliness. Aoife is a beautiful and trusting woman from Galway in Ireland, escaping an abusive partner.They fortuitously cross paths for the first time at Nonna Russo's cooking class in Naples, Italy. Their relationship starts very slowly, but in just 10 short days, total strangers quickly become inseparable lovers as they are intoxicated by 'la bella vita' of Naples. William and Aoife embrace the Napoli cafe culture, go to an opera for the first time, go horse riding on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, experience aperitivo, visit jaw-dropping museums and churches, and swim down at the waterfront. They give kindness, respect and a friendly smile wherever they go. They are gifted the same by the people of Naples.Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Seven weeks after a painful and emotionally charged farewell in Naples, Aoife is reunited with William on his farm in New Zealand. William proposes, Aoife is pregnant, there is a wedding and a funeral. As William walks from the Hunterville Cemetery, an old lady beckons him over. What she says has unimaginable consequences for William and Aoife's journey ahead.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781398478480
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Return to Hunterville and the Mānuka Honey Shop
Stuart Duff
Austin Macauley Publishers
2022-11-30
Return to Hunterville and the Mānuka Honey Shop About the Author Copyright Information © Acknowledgement Aoife in Galway, Ireland Aoife and Kieran Aoife and Mr Ryan O’Leary William in Hunterville, New Zealand William’s World Hunterville Township William and Ram Aoife Arrives and Settles into Naples, Italy William Arrives and Settles into Naples, Italy Nonna Russo’s Cooking Class Piazza Bellini and the National Archaeological Museum Sansevero Chapel and the Veiled Christ Herculaneum Ruins and Horse-Riding on Mount Vesuvius Lazy Sunday Around the Waterfront Funicular Railway to San Martino Castle Subterranean Naples and the Palaeontology Museum Churches in the Old City Area and the Vintage Clothing Shop Dinner at Aoife’s Apartment Friday Night at the Opera Farewell to Naples Return to Galway and the Surprising Development Return to Hunterville and the Mānuka Honey Shop William and Aoife Make Plans to Reunite Reunited William and Aoife Settle into Life on the Farm Visit to the Café and Mānuka Honey Shop William Scores a Try Celebration at the Mānuka Honey Shop Wedding Plans Wedding Day and Celebration at Simpsons Reserve William Loses His Father Funeral at Hunterville Cemetery The Old Woman by the Giant Macrocarpa Tree
About the Author
Stuart lives in Tauranga, New Zealand. Up until the beginning of 2020, international work, recreational travel, children and grandchildren occupied the bulk of his time. Then COVID-19 lockdown arrived to New Zealand in March 2020. This gave him the necessary breathing space to write his first novel. It was something that had been parked for a long time. He is especially interested in the scientific world including its diverse geology, fauna and flora. During his travels, Stuart has silently observed how people interact on a personal and group level, and has embraced the amazing diversity of global cultures experienced.
Copyright Information ©
Stuart Duff 2022
The right of Stuart Duff to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781398478459 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781398478466 (Hardback)
ISBN 9781398478480 (ePub e-book)
ISBN 9781398478473 (Audiobook)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published 2022
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd ®
1 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5AA
Acknowledgement
Thanks to Austin Macauley Publishers for supporting a first time author. Thanks for helping make the impossible dream, possible.
Thanks to Kristal and Larissa for their ongoing support, enthusiasm and encouragement whilst Dad wrote his first novel.
Thanks to the people of Naples, Italy and Hunterville, New Zealand for embracing where they live and for giving countless treasured memories to the author.
Thanks for the magnificence that is Naples, and the unpretentious beauty that is Hunterville and its surrounding district. Both are inspiring.
How difficult we find it to smile at each other, but that smile is the beginning of love…so let us always meet each other with a smile.
Mother Teresa/Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech, 11 December 1979
Aoife in Galway, Ireland
“Aoife, can you please pull me another glass of beer?”
“Of course,” replied Aoife as she had one eye firmly fixed on the clock on the wall, and one eye fixed on her favourite and most loyal customer, Mr Ryan O’Leary. The clock was showing 6 pm.
Although he was her favourite customer at the King Brian Pub, she actually knew very little about him. He was seventy years old, retired, travelled a lot, lived alone and never talked about family. That much she had gleaned from him over the past six months. She wasn’t even sure if he had a family. When she did converse with him, it was a case of the proverbial “like getting water out of a stone”. He always came to the pub alone, sat alone and left alone. He rarely spoke to anybody and it took a long time before he communicated with Aoife. But the one thing that she did know once conversation between the two of them was a bit more natural, was that he was polite, conservative, friendly, quiet and reliable. She definitely had a soft spot for him. It was hard to say exactly why, but every time she talked to him, even though they were just for short periods, it was reassuring and comforting. Aoife felt she could trust him even though there was a pronounced generational difference.
The pub scene in the city centre of Galway was lively. The setting of the King Brian Pub was both historical and picture perfect sitting close to the right bank of the River Corrib a few hundred meters before it flowed out into Galway Bay. Its clientele was a hotchpotch of interesting and not so interesting types. The arty farty, the fashionistas, the wannabes, the never-will-bes, the hardworking, the artisan foodies, the depressed, the depressing, the optimistic and the musical. The bar food was good and hearty and affordable. The coddle and collar and cabbage were the real deal.
Aoife O’Brien had been working at the King Brian Pub for just over twelve months since she had moved to Galway from the family farm in Ballinrobe. Ballinrobe was a small rural town on the banks of the River Robe some two kilometres from Lake Mask, and some forty kilometres north of Galway.
The family farm which was a modest 20 hectares (50 acres) was a specialist sheep farm with minor intensive cropping. The sheep were bred for both meat and wool. It was getting harder to make a living from the farm so her parents had opened a small self-contained one-bedroom holiday cottage on the farm, and her brother had started a honey operation. The artisan wool from the farm was starting to get an international following thanks to some clever Irish marketing from Aoife’s mother, and her brother’s honey was also developing a strong consumer base following the same Irish marketing. Things were improving financially for the family run farm.
Scenically, the area around Ballinrobe and Lake Mask was quintessential Irish countryside. It was lush and green and rolling and had a mystical air to it. The type of countryside where you’d half expect a mischievous Leprechaun or a Pixie Queen to appear from behind a huge rock and wish you ‘a long life and a merry one’.
Working at the King Brian Pub wasn’t a career choice for Aoife but more of a temporary job while she figured out the forward plan. The past twelve months had flashed by and she had made very little progress sorting out the forward plan.
Life on the O’Brien family farm near Ballinrobe was pleasant enough but for Aoife at 24 years old, the option of simply staying on the farm was limited. Aoife’s parents were always supportive but with her elder brother destined to take over the running of the family farm in the next year or two, Aoife felt it was time to head out into the big wide world and explore her place in the world. So that’s what she did. Not too far away to start with. Somewhere close enough that she could visit family regularly and without too much difficulty. She didn’t have a car largely due to economic reasons, so whenever she wanted to get back to the family farm, either her brother or father collected her, or she used the public transport bus which travelled between Galway and Ballinrobe four times a day seven days a week. Bussing was her preferred method of travelling to and from the family farm.
Galway was close enough to Ballinrobe to enable her to head to the farm and ride her beloved horse when the opportunity arrived. It was close enough to go home and mentally and physically reinvigorate the body and mind when the occasion arose. Although she had a healthy curiosity for everything going on in the world, she was also happy and contented with the simple pleasures of life. Although she had social media accounts she very rarely used them.
The clock on the wall of the pub indicated 7 pm and that meant ‘going home time’ for Aoife. Her daily shift started at 11 am. For most people, ‘going home time’ would be received with relief and excitement that the hard graft was over for another day, but for Aoife, going home time was becoming more and more difficult, and it was often fraught with anguish and sadness.
It hadn’t always been like this.
Aoife and Kieran
It was twelve months earlier that Aoife had met Kieran at an exhibition at a local art gallery. He was an invited exhibitor and she was an interested passing by attendee. The Riverside Gallery was well known both locally and nationally as a supporter of up and coming regional artists. Artists that would quite often be assigned as not being of the mainstream types. The exhibition title was “Galway Uncensored” with the one covet being that the gallery managers had the right to decline to show any artwork that was extremely or blatantly offensive to Galway City, or offensive to various minority groups, or any named individuals. Times had changed significantly over the previous ten years and all presenting artists were expected to be socially sensitive and accountable, but at the same time, the exhibition subject was “Galway Uncensored” which in itself evoked certain degr