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When Gulf Harbour author Robyn Cotton fashioned the cast for her new book – her first stab at crime fiction – it wasn’t a coincidence that she gave one of the characters an unusual attribute.
Amy, one of the heroes in The Jibe, has young-onset Parkinson’s, the progressive neurological condition most often diagnosed after 60, but sometimes affecting people considerably younger.
The challenges confronting Amy as she tries to get to the bottom of her brother’s reported murder – lost overboard from a yacht on the Hauraki Gulf – mirror some of those Robyn has herself dealt with since her own diagnosis seven years ago.
“Most people think it’s an ‘old people’s disease’. But Amy has two young girls and is working – and she’s wondering, will I be able to keep my job?”
Amy also experiences fear of the unknown, and embarrassment about her tremor.
In her own case, Robyn was a self-employed consultant when diagnosed and so had different decisions to make, job-wise. But she too faced the prospect of a degenerative condition that has no cure.
The author made important lifestyle changes, shifting to a low-carb, no-sugar diet, and embracing exercise, including boxing, walking and tennis.
Determined also to keep her mind sharp she does everything from sudoku to a range of app-based brain games such as Wordle and Tradle.
“It’s about trying to stay as healthy as I can for as long as I can, and focusing on today rather than worrying about tomorrow.”
Her Christian faith plays a big part in her optimism, she adds. She “does the mahi” – makes the lifestyle changes – and leaves the rest to God.
In a previous novel, Robyn explored the lives of two women with Parkinson’s – one living today, the other 200 years ago, when society thought that those with the condition were either possessed, drunk or insane.
Two years after that book, she felt it was time for another challenge, and set out to write a mystery.
“I started with a question – if I was going to murder somebody, how would I do it?”
For someone who with her husband spends as much time as they can sailing their 12 metre yacht on the Hauraki Gulf, the answer, unsurprisingly, was “on a boat”.
“I love being on the water. When I feel the movement of the water under my feet I feel relaxed,” she says. “It’s my happy place.”
Book giveaway
Hibiscus Matters has a copy of The Jibe to give away. To go into the draw, ‘like’ Hibiscus Matters on Facebook and message us your name and phone number with The Jibe in the message. Alternatively, write your name, address and a daytime phone number on the back of an envelope and post or drop into The Jibe giveaway, Hibiscus Matters, 21 Florence Avenue, Ōrewa. Entries close on Friday, May 10. The Jibe is available through Robyn’s website: hatheropbooks.wordpress.com/
