Novel Title: Concealed Intentions
Time Setting: 2019
Genre: Thriller
Minimum Word Goal: 120,000
Timespan: early/midApril–mid/lateMay
Locations: Prince George & Kitimat, BC; Chișinău, Moldova
Main Characters: Borden Comisarov, Nadia Omelyanenko
Background Information:
The youngest of three children, Borden was difficult, whether it was to keep clean, keep track of, or keep from being pranked by. He was always up to some sort of mischief, and even though he grew out of many of the practises in time, there was always a new and slightly worse one — in his parents’ opinion — to take its place.
He was a notorious prankster — so much so that his father still taste-tests all grainy white substances in the sugar bowl before they touch his morning coffee — as well as something of an escape artist and a partier.
In spite of this he actually didn’t do to bad in school, even if he ran around with a bad crowd in his parents’ eyes. However, when he was seventeen the most popular girl in school ended up dying in his arms, an event that has traumatised him ever since.
For solace he took to drinking rather heavily, but yet still enlisted in the army upon turning eighteen — which helped him curb the drinking — which surprised his parents because they’d been convinced he was part of a gang already.
He did well in the army, distinguishing himself on two tours of duty and even acquiring a girlfriend from among his comrades. Since dating fellow soldiers was frowned upon, though, they kept their relationship quiet for the most part.
One evening, however, he was particularly lonely and ended up getting drunk and going to visit his girlfriend. At the end of that night he was hospitalised with fractures before being immediately taken into police custody on almost the full gamut of assault charges.
Because he wasn’t fully cognizant on the night in question he was convicted on all the charges pressed against him, even though he wasn’t convinced he was actually guilty of them, and has been in prison until recently.
Upon being released for day parole he got a job working at a butcher in Prince George, which is close to his childhood hometown, and even now that he’s fully released he’s remained at the butcher, seeing how he was dishonourably discharged from the army.
His existence is largely isolated outside of work, as his efforts to reconnect with his parents went poorly — leaving him with no desire to reconnect with his siblings — and he gets the sense that no one else really wants him around either.
The youngest of two children — and only daughter — Nadia is an ethnic Russian, but her family has lived in Moldova for so many generations that, upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union, her grandparents had no desire to leave Moldova and Nadia, for one, actually considers herself Moldovan, even if she isn’t ethnically so.
Although Moldova is Europe’s poorest country, Nadia’s life hasn’t been all that bad, mostly thanks to the fact that her father has a job in the finance sector that makes him good money, plus her mother took work out of the home as soon as she started school.
Having always been rather shy, Nadia’s only friend has been her brother, even though he started to run in unsavoury circles in their teenage years, which led her to spend her after-school hours at the library reading.
As her brother has been progressively pulled away from the family by his unsavoury friends and his desire to live a life that doesn’t fit in with the Russian Orthodox mores of their parents, Nadia has been left with increasing pressure from her parents to be the success her brother never became.
She is expected to do well on all academic fronts — and, for the most part, she does, except when it comes to math — and now that she’s on the cusp of graduation it’s coming time for her to decide her future as well.
The problem is, although Nadia has several interests — reading and foreign languages for two — she doesn’t really have any idea just what she would want to spend the whole rest of her life doing.
By and large she tries to put off thoughts of what she’ll do with her life, but because of her looming graduation she knows that she’ll have to come up with something eventually as she doesn’t want to necessarily live with her parents forever.
Pronunciations:
Chișinău: kihshihnau
Comisarov: kohmihsahrawv
Nadia: nahd'yah
Omelyanenko: ohmehlyahnehnkoe
Novel Begins: September 2
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