Glendambo Publishing — Anthony Bruce
About The East Wind
www.anthonybruce.com
The East Wind deals with the effect of a dysfunctional family relationship and a brutal war on one man's journey through life. Alienated and disinherited by a cruel and abusive father, the eldest son of the wealthy and powerful head of a Canadian timber dynasty has survived three tours of duty as a Marine Combat Engineer in Vietnam. This man, after his service in Vietnam, is a self-contained and lonely individual who, as an international construction engineer, has made a life devoid of close human contact. While working on a uranium mine project in the Namibian desert, he is visited by his nephew from Canada. The nephew, an unpleasant, undisciplined youth, causes a serious crisis and is ordered home by his uncle. The courage, loyalties and family ties of both men are savagely tested when the nephew is lost in the desert during the scorching annual phenomenon known locally as the "East Wind". When the uncle unexpectedly becomes involved with the wife of a colleague, he finds his own carefully-structured emotional defense mechanics are no longer adequate and he must deal with the death of a close friend, his nephew's criminal behaviour, and the conflict of loving someone he cannot have.
Excerpt from Chapter One
Rafa skipped another pebble across the lake, watching the ripples turn silver in the early morning light. Finally he turned "It was a long time ago Laura, and in any case David should tell you the story. Have you asked him?"
"Several times, but all he says is that it's in the past and he has no wish to open old wounds." The girl turned. "Please Rafa ... Please. You know the whole story, even Batchi doesn't know it all."
Rafa looked up and for a second saw Kate's face in the child; he sucked his breath in sharply at the resemblance, feeling an icy clamp tighten around his heart. He turned away to hide the distress he felt. The girl, puzzled, watched his face but waited silently. She was used to waiting. Rafa looked at his watch. He sighed. "Very well, I have time before my flight. As you know it was an accident, but accidents don't just happen, usually they are the result of actions so minor that individually they are insignificant but collectively..."
The Namib Desert.
... The Unimog growled along the canyon floor, its heavy duty, deep ribbed tires alternately gripping and spinning in the sand and gravel of the dry river bed. The continual change in traction jerked the three men sitting side-by-side in the open driving compartment like puppets on a string. The driver, a young man in khaki work clothes, mumbled an apology to his companions.
"Not your fault." The big man sitting next to the driver brushed a hand irritably across his massive black beard, forcing the myriad of flies to ascend, flies that were trying the drink the perspiration that trickled down his deeply tanned face and disappeared into and over the tangle of his beard. "This bloody place would be hard on a hovercraft." Another jolt brought a grunt from all the occupants and the big man closed his hand on the arm of the driver.
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The East Wind | To Taunt a Wounded Tiger | A Lie to Comfort the Dying | The Gatekeeper of Lies | The Consequence of Memory | To Seek the Wind of Sorrow
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