Thirty Seconds Before Midnight – Blurb

What happens when the old money runs out and the new money rolls in? Welcome to Bestwood, a dilapidated country pile in the depths of Sussex. Say ‘Hello’ to Herbert, an adolescent giant land tortoise stuck in Bestwood’s ragged menagerie, bored and frustrated with his lot. Meet his best friends, a parakeet called Digby and stunning Stella Trimble. She and her father Bob, the zookeeper, live in the Gate House in the grounds of Bestwood.

Dave Palmer, rock-God, brings the new money in and with it his third wife, the super-model known simply as ‘Issa’ and his twin sons from his first marriage; Ollie and Sid – twenty-four and totally hot on the music and partying scene. Dave’s turning his back on his drug addled, sex-fuelled past and plans to reinvent Bestwood as ‘Palmer Springs’ (Where Hope is Eternal) – a spiritual sanctuary for the creatively blocked.

When Stella, a zoology student, returns from a field trip to the Galapagos Islands she discovers Dave, her new landlord, has arrived. Disturbingly for her and her father, his ambitions don’t include the menagerie and so their home, livelihood and futures are under threat.