Miranda McPhee

Raised in England, I have been in the US since 1999. I lived and worked in London, Paris, and New York during my 30-year career in the financial services sector as a trader, product manager, and research analyst. I moved to Southern California in 2013 when my husband became ill and took care of him till his death last year. During this time I co-authored four children’s activity books, two of which won Family Choice Awards. I am still finding my writing voice.

Ritual for a New Chief

Eight men stood in a loose group on the edge of the Nubava atoll swinging wide their arms and slapping their leathery brown torsos in the cool air as they waited for the first glimmer of the sun. Thirty feet out, a horseshoe of small boats bobbed up and down, weighted fishing nets strung down between them to create a barrier against the open sea.