Chin Up!

After surviving a jet boat accident that takes her parents, eight-year-old Francine is sent away from all she knows to her great-aunt Bronwyn on a Queensland island. Bronwyn's mind is fogging with Alzheimers and her writing career and the freedom of them both is threatened by the disease. Francine dreads ending up in State care so, with secrecy paramount, she must rely on her own resources to keep them both safe. Difficulties multiply over the years but it's a storm that starts her slide into a black hole. How can she wrench her ultimate quest for a family life from the clutches of disaster? Tragedy also strikes Francine's friends the Hohepas, and the future of them all hinges on how this young girl rises to her challenges.

Wendy Willett has lived in several Australian states and New Zealand, often on board sailing boats with her husband and a feline friend. Her desire to write came to fruition when they moved to an island after selling the three-masted Chinese junk they built in New Zealand and called home for many years. Following the publication of several short stories and poems, Wendy explored the affect of Alzheimers and island life on an orphaned city child in her novel, Chin Up! She is now deep into a marine adventure drawing on her knowledge of junk-rigged boats. Currently her home is again a junk-rigged sailing vessel where she and her husband are regarded as ＂staff＂ by their pussycat.