My Books

OUT OF AIR website - Home page screen shot

OUT OF AIR ©Naomi Estment (Chick Lit Romantic Fiction – 80 000 Words)
‘Love, like the sea, sets its own course’

(OFFICIAL WEBSITE: www.outofair.com)

Betrayal sears Gina Duncan’s spirit when she learns her lover is married. As a 25-year-old massage therapist with a penchant for foreign men, she might not know precisely what she wants, but she definitely knows what she doesn’t. Tossing her proverbial toys, she storms out of a trendy Cape Town restaurant, into more romantic trouble. The daughter of an often-absent seafarer, Gina believes that love has a habit of leaving, repeatedly. Although determined to break previous patterns, she remains misguided by this misconception. First in the irresistible arms of intemperate Irish sailor, Danny Gallagher, who’s hell-bent on her seduction. Once he leaves for the Seychelles, swearing to return, friendship meets fire in the form of Ben Carter, a local commercial diver.

Tension seethes while Ben rescues Gina from running out of air underwater. That’s just for starters, which begs the question that burns up the pages. What role is each man destined to play in Gina’s life, as she strives to navigate the upheaval in her heart and homeland? It’s 1994 and South Africa teeters on the brink of potential civil war, before taking her first steps into fledgling democracy, signalled by the election of Nelson Mandela. Then the Apollo Sea sinks in a bleeding wreck of fuel oil that threatens ten thousand African Penguins. There are no smooth seas in Gina’s life either. It’s a lot more like the ‘roaring forties’. After eight months of high-octane action, she – along with South Africa, which transitions out of apartheid – finally comes of age.

Here’s a link to a small sample from Chapter 1: OUT OF AIR,

. . . and a two-part interview with Hills of Africa Travel: Out of Air: A Story of Sheer Inspiration & Out of Air: A Story of Sheer Inspiration – Part II (February 2011)

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A chick lit romance, Out of Air pays tribute to South Africa, Cape Town in particular (where I grew up) and the sea in general. The actuality and metaphor of the title is inspired by scuba diving. Together with sailing, this forms a central theme. It’s a long-time passion of ours, Dave being a NAUI instructor. My appreciation of the ocean was instilled early, since my father served on our national research vessels, sailing as far as Antarctica.

An objective of Out of Air is to help raise awareness for the plight of African Penguins, recently reclassified as endangered. This is despite the amazing efforts of SANCCOB (who managed to rescue about half of the birds oiled by the Apollo Sea), as well as others across the globe. In March 2009 it was reported on Carte Blanche that if their numbers continued to decline as they were, there would be none of this species left in 15 years (save in captivity). Here’s a link to their article: African Penguins.

AFRICAN PENGUIN - Boulders Beach, Cape Town, South Africa

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DUST ON FIRE ©Naomi Estment (Chick Lit Romantic Fiction – In Progress)
‘Passion lives in wild places’

Scarred by divorce and stuck in a massive traffic jam, Jesse Gardiner – frustrated bush baby in a Johannesburg office job – discovers that her fiancé has lied about something significant. Not for the first time. Enraged, premenstrual and fired by caffeine withdrawal, she precipitates a bumper bashing. This prods a sleeping viper, in the form of super-bitch Charlotte Hamilton, an upwardly mobile attorney, who exacts revenge by getting Jesse fired. Fraught and furious on both counts, Jesse ditches her fiancé, deciding to hold out for the real deal. Next, in a bid to rekindle her sidelined dreams, she takes a job as a ranger at Big Sky, a fictitious game farm in the Waterberg Mountains.

Here she’s confronted with the infuriating sex appeal of neighbouring farmer, Dean Andersen. Neither, to her dismay, is she done with Charlotte. Between the two they stretch Jesse’s resolution, as well as her reason, to the razor edge. However, at thirty-five, this is far from the only fiasco she has to face. Modern-day South Africa is caught in the grip of an intense rhino poaching crisis. Jesse can’t escape the impact or the fall-out from her relationships, which continues to drive her spirited defiance. Meanwhile, the African bush breathes its magic, yielding experiences as profound as the cheetah cub she rescues, others violent as the fury of a Highveld storm. Through an epic adventure, the scorching question is whether a woman and species will ultimately prevail.

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For over a decade Dave and I have explored the African bushveld (from our home base in Johannesburg). The beauty of it has seeped deep into our bones, compelling us to share it. Hence this blog and the book (a chick-lit romance), which is being written in tribute – also with a view to raising awareness for rhino and cheetah, both of which are threatened.

During the shooting of two short films that we have created to this same end, we had the privilege of meeting “Smurf”, the adorable 6-week-old rhino pictured below.

Smurf the Rhino Calf sucking Dave's video camera!

. . . and here is a close-up of a cheetah, in case you’re not familiar with these magnificent cats:

CHEETAH - Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, South Africa