When The Axe Swings In the grip of haunting pride and vaulting ambition, some people will dare anything to achieve their goal. In this romantic adventure thriller, where being in love is like a thorn in the flesh, and deceit a weapon of choice in the fight for victory, the destiny of three people hangs in the balance. Woody Bajan: a wealthy axe man whose heart is torn apart by the love of two women; he is desperate to make a comeback to his station in life after losing all his wealth. Abi: a woman with a burning desire to be loved who uses subtle intrigues and feminine charms to hold on to her man. Mariama: a woman who loves deeply and humbly, and is ready to sacrifice her life for her man, yet suffers in silence ... ... with quick steps she walked into the clearing looking radiant like the sun at dawn. Woody closed the distance between them ... and his muscles flushed and firm and glistening with sweat from the day"s exercise held her transfixed. They were so close she could smell the dried sweat on his body: manly, no more like an animal"s. "What a juicy fruit!" he thought, while gazing as if hypnotized into her large inky-black eyes sparkling in the sunlight. He licked his lips: a new woman was as exciting as a fresh tree to fell. Suddenly the urge to possess and dig deep into her, to ferret out the secret hidden within her, drove him wild with passion: the same urge to strike the tree and drain out its life blood. In the Macmillan Writers" Prize for Africa 2006 Competition, the abridged version of When the axe swings won commendation from the judges for the author"s "fine understanding of characterization and writing style". Fred Soneka is a Sierra Leonean living in Freetown. When The Axe Swings is his first novel.