Bio
When Michael Powell left university, where he was a Choral Exhibitioner, he intended to become a professional singer, but became a computer programmer to pay the bills in the meantime. Over the years, he alternated between the two careers. He authored a number of successful software products and, at the same time, performed professionally as a soloist in concerts and operatic performances around the UK and abroad.In the 1980s he took up writing, regularly contributing articles to the computer and national press on software-related subjects. He was contracted by Computer Weekly to write two books about Contracting (the first of which was written in large part whilst rehearsing the main tenor role of “Male Chorus” in Britten’s “Rape of Lucretia” at the Aldeburgh Festival).
In the 1990s he met his wife, Kerstin, and they bought a boat to sail in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since then, they have visited nearly all the major Greek islands and the whole Turkish south and west coast. His eclectic lifestyle has enabled him to continue to pursue his various careers wherever he happens to be.
During their travels, they discovered the island of Leros where they bought a house in 2014. He became fascinated with the wartime history of the island. This inspired him to research and write his first novel, “Four’s Destiny”.
Michael and Kerstin now divide their time between their base in England, their house in Leros and their sailing boat, Tosca II.
Genres
Free Book Giveaways
Four's Destiny
The book traces the lives of four men: Godfrey (English), Rolf (German), his cousin Marco (Italian) and Yiannis (Greek) – each born in 1920. Marco and Yiannis come from the small island of Leros, then part of the Italian-ruled Dodecanese group. They all meet in 1936 at the Nuremburg Youth Rally when Godfrey visits Rolf on a student exchange and Marco visits Rolf with this friend Yiannis. When war breaks out, the four serve their countries. In 1943, Italy changes to the Allied side. Their lives coalesce again when Yiannis, now a sailor on the Greek destroyer, ‘Queen Olga’, meets Godfrey, now a member of the LRDG and Marco on Leros. Rolf, now a bomber pilot is fated to drop one of the bombs which sinks the Olga and, before his plane crashes, to strafe Marco’s anti-aircraft battery.