On the magical, mystical island of O’ahu, there is a place where ‘dreams’ are real and ‘serendipity’ is a cosmic law.
Christopher Robert Matthews, restless free spirit and reluctant heir to the Matthews shipping empire, stands on the precipice of becoming merely the next in a long line of duty-bound men that stretches back for generations, marching in lockstep towards a grim, rigidly predetermined future. But in a desperate act of rebellion, and with a little help from a random spin of a magical antique globe, he unknowingly embarks upon his true path of destiny, one that takes him to a strange, exotic land where magic is a fact of life and dreams really do come true…
I have always been a storyteller. Whether around the dinner table, beside the fire, at the bar or on the street, I always enjoy sharing a tale with whatever audience I happen to have captive at that particular moment. As a child growing up in the Foreign Service, my stories of wild adventures in exotic locales have become the stuff of personal legend (and in the case of my wife, wild eye-rolls) as I revisit a host of strange and mysterious tales with every passing victim. As I grew older and took the time to ponder them in greater depth, I eventually came to realize that the central thread of them all was the curious and truly serendipitous nature of each and every one, the host of strange and mysterious circumstances that somehow came together for their unlikely resolution.
The evolution and creation of the epic tale that became ‘Over the Rainbow’ was no different. It began with a chance encounter on an obscure movie set with a famous actress who unknowingly set me upon this path when she innocently asked the question, ‘Do you have an idea for a story?’ It flowered into the tiniest germ of an idea with the unexpected return to the magical islands of Hawai’i a few years later, and then blossomed and flared into incandescence by the melody of a single tune that accompanied me on a sad and lonely trip through the panhandle of southern Idaho.
More than just another slushy romance, ‘Over the Rainbow’ is a banquet of words woven into a richly detailed tapestry of life and love in the magical islands of Hawai’i. From its’ lush and poetical descriptions of the land to the vibrant and colorful portraits of its’ quirky and charming characters, ‘Over the Rainbow’ will carry you on a mystical journey that will not only entertain and delight you but might even make you ponder the mysterious workings of the Universe. If you are looking for something slightly beyond the norm, something just off the beaten path, for a story of what you will find when your travels take you somewhere ‘over the rainbow’, then this is the book you for you.