Kat's tales
Kat's tales
My first work of fiction, out now !
A divorcing woman discovers the sordid truth beneath her glitzy life when she takes on her cheating husband and the tax haven island hiding his secrets.
On the paradise island of Jersey, society hostess and amateur aviator, Cass Hartmann, has a perfect life. A beachside home, a chalet in the alps, two gorgeous daughters and a to-die-for husband. She has everything, in fact, except for the truth.
At a lavish party hosted by a Russian oligarch, Cass discovers her husband, Magnus, has been leading a double life. She files for divorce and starts unravelling his clandestine business affairs, dreaming of a new life with half the marital spoils. Magnus cuts off her funds, alienates her from friends and family and absconds with their daughters.
Alone, destitute, and with mysterious forces on the island working against her, Cass must find the strength within her. She joins forces with three women she meets in a relationship therapy group to delve into the murky corporate world to uncover an operation of money laundering, sanctions busting and arms dealing. When Cass is offered a vast out of court settlement to keep quiet, she is set on an unexpected path…
It’s adventurous and bold with plenty of high drama, often softened by episodes of poignant self-reflection. Kat writes about what she knows and has experienced. Good read. - Kealey Harding
Cass Hartmann had a life of privilege and wealth with two wonderful daughters and a powerful husband. When her husband of twenty-five years suddenly abandons her and absconds with her children she is forced to reflect on both her life with Magnus and the circumstances that led her to him. Alone, destitute, and with dark, powerful entities working against her, Cass discovers the strength within her and the importance of true allies. An international tale of heartbreak, political corruption, and financial fraud; this is a novel of suspense and intrigue with a feminine touch. - Unmitigatedgall
I loved this well-written book! It drew me in immediately and made me care for the main character and her friends. It's a story of a fascinating, adventurous woman living among the wealthiest facing the darkest days of her life as her relationship falls apart. She must find her way through the seedy underbelly of the financial tax haven of Jersey affecting not only her but also the very needy people she had previously taken care of through charity work. It's also about love and the value of good friendships to sustain us. I would read anything this author writes! I'm hooked. - Lesley McCandless
What an intense book filled with deceit, twisting of facts, betrayals, deep secrets, manipulation, and whistleblowing based on a true story. Cass Hartmann has been happily married to her financier husband Mangus for twenty-five years, or so she thought. Until she's not.
As she is evicted from her family home and left destitute, despite her husbands wealth, Cass is thrown into a world she never imagined: having lived on the idyllic island of Jersey (UK) she finds that the vast amount of corruption in the courts and government block her every move at getting justice. Luckily, Cass is blessed with wonderfully loyal friends, Alex, Veronika, and Bella, who help her navigate the murky waters all of their husbands seem to be neck deep in as they seek truth and justice for themselves and the women of Jersey. - One More Chapter One More Book
I loved this book! In fact, once I had read about 50 percent of the book, I couldn't put it down.
The Orchid Papers is the story of Cassandra, a woman who lived a privileged life as the wife of an extraordinarily wealthy man on the island of Jersey. The family had multiple homes around the world, household employees to cater to their every whim and lived a life of luxury, and Cass never wondered where her husband's wealth came from -- until she discovered he was having an affair and filed for divorce after he suddenly cut her off.
I won't divulge here what Cass ultimately finds out, but she discovers the source of her husband's wealth, which is well hidden by shell companies, and it upends her life.
This book is well written and flows easily, so be sure to put aside enough time to read it because you won't want to put it down! - NetGalley member
Very well done. It gripped me from early on and continued through the entire book. It was well written, very readable and very accessible. The subject matter was something I was not familiar with, but now, it makes my blood boil that this kind of thing goes on. I learned much more than I ever wanted to know about money laundering and tax havens. I would recommend it to anyone. - NetGalley member
After the divorce which fueled the events in *The Orchid Papers*, I set my heart on a new life as a bush pilot in Africa following in the footsteps of 1930s aviator Beryl Markham. But then love called me from London to Las Vegas where it burst from the bling and the sparkle and quickly died in the desert dust. The emotional wounds were deep and took time to heal but now I can appreciate being set free to find love again. What is life without love?
Now starting again at age 60 is scary but not life threatening. I survived a drug overdose as a teenager with an unhealthy infatuation with Sid Vicious, the shock of a breast cancer diagnosis the week I got engaged to the antagonist in my story, a lust for adrenalin sports and a lifelong addiction to escapism, traveling the globe without a plan or a return ticket. And so I will survive the heartbreak of a second failed marriage and the inconvenience of having no safety net and nowhere to call home. Or is that called 'Freedom'?
I remind myself that I was the sort of person who applied to study English Literature at Oxford without a high school education, that I broke a world paragliding record flying up the Atacama coast as a fledgling pilot, then high above the Kalahari desert, rising with dust devils to break a world record (which still stands). When I ended up in a lonely marriage with three young children in a remote Austrian Valley, I started up a business selling horse riding holidays without any experience or skills. That took me from the pyramids of Giza to Machu Picchu, from galloping with elephants in Botswana to playing polo with gauchos in Argentina. I had no clue how to ride a horse.
Somehow, I've made so many of my dreams come true without being aware that they were dreams. I have always believed in life's endless possibilities and somehow I've made them happen. I never imagined, when I began my journey far from home, that one day I would fly off the Great Wall of China, across rainforests in Venezuela, through rainbows at Victoria Falls, or hopscotch in a seaplane across the lakes in Minnesota, or hover in a balloon over the ancient temples in Burma. I have explored the underwater world, hanging out with giant manta rays in Micronesia and exploring WWII wrecks in Irian Jaya. I have had a truly blessed life.
And it all started in my early twenties with a motorcycle adventure around India and Nepal on a motorbike with a man I'd just met at the wrap party of a film I'd been working on, which made my mother smile. Her mother eloped to India with a British army chap she'd met on a ship from New York to Liverpool after a hockey tour. She never disembarked, and if she had, my mother would not have been born, and neither would I. Maybe I wasn't escaping a mundane life for one well-traveled, maybe it was just in my genes.
Yes, it's been an extraordinary ride. I am free of material things and call everywhere I'm welcome my home. I take each moment that I breathe as a gift. A Kat with nine lives, perhaps embarking on my tenth.
On some days, now that I have written my story, it feels like I've come to the end of the line, at the end of an unbelievable journey. But on other days, it feels like I'm starting a new one, experiencing the lull between storms. I have so much to feel grateful for. I have some truly amazing friends, parents who believed in my dreams and my three beautiful children.
You can send me a message or ask me a general question using this form.
I will do my best to get back to you soon!
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