NSRA MEMBER FULFILS BOOK-WRITING DREAM
Lesley Anne Brown’s husband, Dave Brown, has been a familiar face in the hot-rodding world since jeans were flared, hair was long and anything with a jacked up back axle was considered a hot-rod or custom car. As an adoring girlfriend she tagged along and as a wife, it was one of the wedding vows she made – to remain part of the scene. However, it wasn’t until 2007 when she laid eyes on a beautiful Ford Model A Phaeton in a showroom in Denver, Colorado that she finally ‘got it’.
“Seven years, 32,000 miles and 22 states later, we’d had one hell of an adventure in that car, living the American Dream,” she said. “It is now a familiar sight at NSRA and classic car shows around the UK, with another 25,000 miles added to the clock and many more fabulous memories made. With a hot-rodding husband and a drag racing champion (Paul Brown) for a son, my adult life has been dominated by wheels and horsepower as I immersed myself in their passions. Meanwhile, I harboured an ambition
of my own – to write a novel. Like most car builders, I suffered from procrastination and excuses. More in hope than expectation, I added ‘write a novel’ to my list of 60 things to mark my impending 60th birthday to spur me on and finally, I put pen to paper in late 2021 when I began creating Finding Carla. More than two years later I proudly held a copy of my first novel in my hand, admiring its distinctive front cover. It was just as I had imagined it right from the beginning of this long and rewarding project.
“They say write about what you know. Well, I had a wealth of experiences in the USA to draw from and used these to write a tale about Carla, a prematurely retired 50-something mum and grandmother who jets off to America for the trip of a lifetime along the legendary Route 66, after her husband ups and leaves her out of the blue. All bar one of the characters are fictional, but many of the events happened in real life, with the more outlandish stories actually being true! The book chronicles the background and landscapes of historic Route 66, bringing it to life through Carla’s eyes during an exhilarating and sometimes perilous journey in a classic 1960 red Corvette (my dream car!). The adventure continues through California, a land of beautiful sunsets and Pomona Raceway, where Carla catches a fix of nitro and thunderous horsepower.
“I’ve been delighted by the positive feedback and reviews
I’ve received so far from men and women alike, which has spurred me on to write a sequel.”
Fellow NSRA member Andy Gardiner’s five-star review on Amazon says: “I found it to be a gripping story that kept me enthralled throughout, wanting explanations. Enjoyed the differences between the English and American cultures and personalities. I can highly recommend this book especially for anyone who has contemplated or taken a road trip along Route 66.”
Finding Carla is published by Wrate’s Publishing and can be purchased from Amazon in paperback or ebook. For more information about the book, check out Facebook page ‘Lesley Anne Brown – Finding Carla’. Still to do on Lesley Anne’s bucket list is racing her 1970 classic Beetle down the track at Santa Pod!