CONTINENTAL DRIFT
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Continental Drift: A Novel by
Humphrey Muller US Price: $21.95
U.K.Price: £18.87
Harry Denton is a middle-aged professor who leaves his secure post at a London university on account of the sense of failure and embarrassment caused by his wife Anne's mounting debts. An inheritance left to him by his father enables him to start a new life by buying a small hotel in the Scottish Borders. But in this new context his marriage to Anne proves to be just as hopeless and loveless. He escapes through flights of fancy, frequently contemplating suicide, and becomes obsessed with one of his guests - Eleanor, who is a mouthpiece for the ideas of James Redfield in The Celestine Prophecy. Although, ironically, she comes across as a pretty simpleton married to an uncouth double-glazing salesman, she expresses the thinking which, in time, will transform Denton’s life. His infatuation with her makes him susceptible to her husband’s network marketing ideas and he allows himself to be drawn into their world with its glib positive-thinking philosophy. The ruins of a twelfth-century Augustinian Abbey in the Scottish Borders play a significant role in the evocation of atmosphere (they provide the fantasy of a 'time-gate' to the past). Settings range from Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders, Malta and South Africa.
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CLICK HERE to read CHAPTER ONE of Continental Drift. Monika Pavlik from London
, 22 May, 2001 Lisa
Ammerman from Florida , 28 December, 2001 I finished reading Continental Drift and, first off, I'd like to say how much I was struck by the book's cover. If the Abbey was from a painting by Joanne Muller, the author’s wife, where did the young woman come from? She's perfect…a fitting image for the heroine. I wonder what it is about striking blue eyes! I was very intrigued by the author’s description of running the picturesque hotel in Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders; and very quickly, with just the right set of examples, he gave a very vivid impression of what it's like to 'serve' and 'deal' with difficult customers or guests. Unfortunately Americans can be, and most often are, the worst. I'm not sure why, but it must have something to do with their bold, arrogant cultural upbringing. And goodness, what a tale, getting sucked into the Speedway crowd, representative of network marketing organizations with their "religion of the affluent" and brash doctrines of wealth and materialistic lifestyles! So may people, like Eleanor, are so innocent, so trusting, so optimistic about and vulnerable to their glib dreams of success and wealth. Harry's involvement certainly got me feeling like Anne, his wife, who couldn't understand why he was putting up with it—even for the sake of a good, strong dose of lust—or love! Speaking of lust, Harry’s own plight made me realize just how men ARE driven by lust! The portrayal of Harry with his obsession for Eleanor is a very honest picture of the main character--not very flattering at times, which makes him all the more 'real' and worth understanding, of course. Even he admits to those 'juvenile' weaknesses, and I'll bet some readers would call him juvenile or adolescent (especially women readers), but the fact is...men of all ages do feel randy at the sight of tits, or legs, on a woman! I wonder how many men that say they don't aren't facing up to the reality! They'd like to think they're "above” all that, I dare say. Nevertheless, it was Eleanor with her biting blue eyes that gave Harry his first real taste of spirituality, which peaks at Hagar Qim, the pre-historic temple in Malta. I was there, right at that very spot, a few years back—at sunset—and my husband and I were the only people there... what a strange, eternal feeling that place has, beyond words, magical, as the author of Continental Drift describes it. And what a fitting way to have Harry, now falling away from Eleanor's aura, once again doubt his dream: "In the end, he thought, every person was an island." I was thinking, after I finished the book, that mainly it was about Sex—lust and sex! Or, about a man trying to find gratification and even love in the midst of it. In my own novels (like Love in a Nutbag), there isn't much graphic sex at all, and yet the main focus is sensual. I wouldn’t want to be as frank and blunt on that subject as the author of Continental Drift has been—I’d prefer to use more dramatic suggestion Yet one might ask, what's the sense in flowering over the physical mechanics of it when that's how it really is? Perhaps the "ideal" is a heavy dose of all three: sex, love, and spirit. All were there in Continental Drift, and yet Harry kept getting bogged down with sex—among other things, as we all do in real life! The South Africa section toward the end was gripping stuff. The characters seemed so real and spoke so authentically. They were very much alive—just jumped out of the pages at you. The
ending, to me, promised that we humans (or some of us, anyway) can
indeed find an island among ourselves where we can live in
peace, concentrating on the things that really matter.
Screw the rest of the world! If only. Perhaps the author
might one day write a sequel, to see how the islanders make out?
Or would they—eventually—create their own version of pettiness,
airs, quibbling, greediness? Emelia Hardy from New Hampshire, 1 May, 2002 This Book has
Changed my Life!! The author, Charles H Muller (Humphrey Muller) paints a clear picture of the way Harry was feeling when venturing away from his familiar soundings, no longer trapped in his everyday routine—a routine that took years of study to accomplish but has now turned into something of the past. Looks like Harry's problems have only just begun or should I say have become a continuation of what he had left behind. The author makes the reader take notice of Harry with such feeling that you almost feel the same desire that he is feeling—wanting the same things Harry wants. You can feel how destitute and empty he is and how he longs for a deep, caring, touching love. You can't help but feel bad for him. Men have always been known to react to what they see! Anne, his wife, stopped looking special—she let herself go! On the other hand, Eleanor was a breath of fresh air! The way this book was written made me wish I was Eleanor! To have someone care that much about me is unheard of these days, but one can hope. Charles Humphrey Muller gave Harry a personality that doesn't quit. When women read this book they will long for someone just like Harry! I know, I do! He has such depth and you can see right into his soul! Cheer up men, the author makes Eleanor to be every man's dream come true—and then some! I have to say that when Charles Muller described Anne I felt like he was looking at me! That scared me! I'm not as bad but I was on my way, for sure. I would never want anyone to think of me the way that Harry thought about Anne—grossly overweight and un-feminine! So the way this book has changed my life is that it encouraged me to join a fitness center. I've lost 28 lbs so far, two dress sizes, and loving my new self! You see—you don't need a diet, just read the book!! I was so intrigued by this book and the talent of the author
that I have bought another one of his novels—"A Twist in
Time". I
can't wait to read it!...You’ll be hearing from me again! How Many
Troublesome Days Can One Man Take!, May 11, 2002
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HERE
IS THE SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT: 
