Christian, wife, mom, primary home schooling parent and lover of living books, Taryn lives in Cape Town, South Africa where her first novel Seekers of the Lost Boy is set.
TARYN HAYES calls Cape Town, South Africa her home and has since she was born. Even so, she has a soft spot in her heart for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan thanks to a wonderful year spent there as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in 1995.
However, it is in the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town where Taryn fell in love with words and all the power they held to captivate her. It is also where she first discovered the joy of writing. Combining her love of literature, history and people, Taryn graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in English, history and psychology. She finished off her tertiary education with her teaching degree and continued her life-long learning journey first as a classrooom teacher and now as wife to Craig and homeschooling mother of Kiera, Katie, Samuel and Micah.
Writing continues to be a passion and thanks to the inspiration of literature-based learning, Taryn recognised the need for more excellent historical fiction for children. Seekers of the Lost Boy, her debut novel, is Taryn’s contribution to living literature. It is a youth story, featuring homeschooled characters discovering an incredible South African history. The story begins on a stormy beach one winter’s morning when 12-year-old Simon discovers an old bottle in a tangled clump of seaweed. On a whim, he tucks it into coat before heading home. But, his plans for his new discovery are dashed when his beloved dog, Purdy, knocks him over in one over-excited bound, smashing his bottle to the ground. Simon’s disappointment soon turns to excited intrigue, for in the bottle is a note: written by another 12-year-old school boy, 30 years ago. Seekers of the Lost Boy catapults Simon and his family into an adventure they never imagined possible as they seek to find the boy of the bottle. Taryn’s hope is that this story will stir the hearts of all its readers – young and old.
TARYN HAYES calls Cape Town, South Africa her home and has since she was born. Even so, she has a soft spot in her heart for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan thanks to a wonderful year spent there as a Rotary Youth Exchange Student in 1995.
However, it is in the shadow of Table Mountain in Cape Town where Taryn fell in love with words and all the power they held to captivate her. It is also where she first discovered the joy of writing. Combining her love of literature, history and people, Taryn graduated from the University of Cape Town with a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in English, history and psychology. She finished off her tertiary education with her teaching degree and continued her life-long learning journey first as a classrooom teacher and now as wife to Craig and homeschooling mother of Kiera, Katie, Samuel and Micah.
Writing continues to be a passion and thanks to the inspiration of literature-based learning, Taryn recognised the need for more excellent historical fiction for children. Seekers of the Lost Boy, her debut novel, is Taryn’s contribution to living literature. It is a youth story, featuring homeschooled characters discovering an incredible South African history. The story begins on a stormy beach one winter’s morning when 12-year-old Simon discovers an old bottle in a tangled clump of seaweed. On a whim, he tucks it into coat before heading home. But, his plans for his new discovery are dashed when his beloved dog, Purdy, knocks him over in one over-excited bound, smashing his bottle to the ground. Simon’s disappointment soon turns to excited intrigue, for in the bottle is a note: written by another 12-year-old school boy, 30 years ago. Seekers of the Lost Boy catapults Simon and his family into an adventure they never imagined possible as they seek to find the boy of the bottle. Taryn’s hope is that this story will stir the hearts of all its readers – young and old.