BREATH

$5.40 – $15.00

A federal Liberal backbencher (Christie) is kidnapped. He assumes the 'terrorists' must be Muslim. It is only much later than he realises the issue is personal and that his kidnappers are the children of an old friend, Bob. The friends were once fellow travellers, would-be anarchists, but they've taken different paths. Bob is on a disability pension, and clinging desperately to what's left of his idealism. His children, Lucy and Jude, are indoctrinated with their father's yearning for a time where ideals mattered, and music came with the crackle of an imperfect technology.

'[A] tale of tangled values, youth and yesterday versus the cynical corruption of today...Van Der Werf generates some pertinent and wry commentary on the state of politics and the world.' Samela Harris, The Advertiser, July 22, 2005

APT