Wrecked Lives by Donald Wraith

Wrecked Lives by [Donald Wraith]

Summary:

Written from a Spanish perspective, where the overall theme is a story of survival against the natural elements.

In the late sixteenth century, a farmer from Andalucía searches for his runaway son who has left home to join the ships of the Spanish Armada on their holy quest of 1588.

The story unfolds away from the façade of politics, religion and military objectives, to highlight the frailties of human beings in their will to survive against the raw power of nature.

Over several months the characters experience many dangers, where tough decisions have to be made for themselves, and others to survive. All entangled within the horrors of battle and numerous shipwrecks.

Information about the Book

Title: Wrecked Lives

Author: Donald Wraith

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publication Date: 231st August 2021

Page Count: 262

Publisher: Clink Street Publishing

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wrecked-Lives-Donald-Wraith/dp/1914498038

Excerpt During the 16th Century, exploration to the New World provided Spain with huge amounts of gold and silver. However, maintaining new colonies was costly, and had to be financed by this treasure, as well as funding Spain’s many conflicts between other countries. At this time Spain fought the Turks and the French, and from 1568 the Netherlands where, due to invasion, a rebellion began a long war of independence throughout that country. From 1587 to 1604 Spain also fought the English.

Spain’s desire for exploration and thirst for world glory provided many politicians the opportunity to increase their wealth and status. One such person was Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish viceroy who controlled the conquered lands of New Spain (Mexico). He sent out explorers to scour the New World for Native American treasure. They had heard persistent tales of fantastic wealth and treasures, one of which was called the Seven Golden Cities of Cíbola. So, in 1540 Mendoza dispatched Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to follow up on these reports, where he encountered many Zuni Pueblos from which the original legend was inspired. Eventually, the legend proved false, and the expedition turned out to be a ruinous misadventure for all those involved. However, many tales came back from those adventures, inspiring others to follow. Perhaps the following was just such a tale…

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Author Information

As a retired electrical project manager in the Petro-chemical industry, I found time to complete my art degree with the Open University. It gave me the insight into research which led to various opportunities completely out of my own experiences. The first of which was to become and online English teacher for students in China, which I really enjoyed. The second was to complete a book that I had started a few years ago. I enjoy searching for fictional stories intertwined in factual events, where the characters emerge from the pages by themselves. Wrecked Lives was one such novel, as it inspired me because of the way in which the weather affected the whole story. The actual events that took place along the Scottish and Irish coasts also allowed me to research my own ancestry. My maternal grandfather originated from Orkney, and I knew of the Westray Dons on the island that gave me a tentative link to the story. Other factors came to light which allowed the characters to emerge, and they became easy to direct. Research is an important tool when writing about historical events, although I have found there to be several variations of the same facts. As a fictional author, I simply used the information to suit my storyline. It has also led me to writing a sequel, as there were too many unfinished stories to the first book.

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