Forty-seven of the two hundred and
fifty Apollo 13 lunar rocks have been recovered.
This is the story of the first Lunar
rocks to go missing, causing a mother to lose a husband in a war he
shouldn’t have been in, a son disenfranchised from his country, and
a father racked with guilt from a disobeyed order.
Greg and Jordi are brothers that bond
on a harrowing, yet liberating journey, after discovering their world
is a lie. They are driven to find the truth over two continents,
unearth their real family history, and the theft of some lunar rocks,
but is their journey a search for the truth or the whereabouts of the
spoils of the moon.
Synopsis
1967, St Ann's Nottingham,
a typical late Victorian, working class, neighbourhood in acute
decline, alarming poverty, a slum. Three hundred of Nottingham's
dirtiest acres.
This is the time and place
Brendan and Pauline's son was born, emigration the only option. They
were called ten-pound-poms.
The journey on the ship,
SS Canberra, was as frightening and exhilarating as the first year
shacked up in the Nissan hut at the hostel, Adelaide, Southern
Australia.
Years before, Brendan's
parents and sister, Beanie, had moved there after buying a farm in
the outback.
Brendan and Pauline
settled into a new home in the satellite town of Elizabeth. Brendan
only had one question on signing at the labour exchange: does the
section about National Service apply to him? - he was soon to find
out.
Pauline suffered bouts of
homesickness, fuelled by Brendan's prolonged absences of long working
hours. A new mother, she soon became depressed. It wasn't long before
Brendan was called up for National Service.
The year is 1969, a
global celebration of the moon landings. President Nixon, in
commemoration bestowed a hundred and thirty-five gifts of lunar rocks
to friendly foreign governments. In 1970, Adelaide museum was proud
to display a plaque containing two lunar rocks.
Nobody thought they would
be worth stealing, until Brendan, Beanie's boyfriend, Troy, and his
mate, Brian, on finishing basic training did just that, with the
military precision they had recently learned.
Brendan hides the rocks
and is forced to ask his sister, Beanie, to collect them. They end up
in the police cells after a drunken brawl, hours after the hoist. The
judge orders no custodial sentences because he was told, unbeknown to
these men, that effective immediately they will be impressed
into overseas service.
Brendan is killed saving
some villagers in Vietnam. Troy and Brian disappear - things happen
when you steal lunar rocks from the government and embarrass them.
The Americans want them back for a sinister reason.
The news of her husband's
death sends Pauline into a mental institute, leaving Beanie with her
son. Beanie recently gave birth also to a son. She takes both of the
boys back to the UK.
This is the story of those
two boys, Jordi and Greg - now men.
The family business model,
started by their mum, Beanie, was to buy handmade crafts from Asia,
repair what gets damaged in shipping, and then sell them from their
market stall in Camden, London.
Beanie died, leaving them
clues to the past and circumstances that cause both men to go to Asia
to buy more products for their business before the programmed road
works cut their access off and potentially ruins their product-hungry
business.
It's not long before one
of them is hanging upside down naked in a small Vietnamese village
near the Cambodian border, tortured by a man with an American accent.
He wants the lunar rocks.
The American, who has been
on their trail since London, chose the wrong village and was chased
off in a hale of bullets. Ordered by an old villager, one of the men
Brendan saved in the war. A translator shows them a picture of two
baby boys. She also hands over Brendan's identification documents
with the same surname as them and various other personal belongings,
along with the story of how he saved some of the villagers.
The clock is ticking now
and they are on a collision course with others, tracking down their
true family roots and the whereabouts of the lunar rocks - now valued
in millions.
In Australia, they
encounter Brian and Troy, and are helped by Brian's daughter who is
tough, beautiful, and vulnerable to Jordi's charms. But who is whose
son? Only Pauline has the answer back at the family farm in the
outback -- their final destination. They are not the only ones who
turned up looking for answers. The end gives us some shocking
surprises and personal growth.
FIVE STAR REVIEWS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five stars for this engaging tale
14 Aug. 2015
By catherine simpson
- Published on Amazon.com
Spoils of the Moon is a delightful new book by Mark Shearman.
Well-written in straightforward prose, the book focuses on Jordi and
Greg, two Londoners who embark on a journey to find the truth about
their past, unearthing information that suggests their absent father was
part of a gang in the early seventies who stole some moon rocks from
South Australia museum and also they may have family living in the
outback who could fill in the blanks.
On the journey they are tracked down and captured by an American who has a personal connection to the stolen moon rocks and is also looking for their whereabouts. The journey delves into the complicated relationship that is causing much friction between Jordi and Greg and eventually acts as therapy as they had issues with their recently deceased mother. The road trip starts in Vietnam and then the outback fraught with obstacles and funny situations and some crazy off-the-wall characters.
This heartfelt story is full of hope that even after decades of secrets, and dysfunction, estranged families can come together and work through their problems. There are so many things to like about this book. The characters come to life and tell a poignant story in a humorous, but not overly sentimental way. Great dialogue drives much of the storytelling and the story moves at a fast pace.
On the journey they are tracked down and captured by an American who has a personal connection to the stolen moon rocks and is also looking for their whereabouts. The journey delves into the complicated relationship that is causing much friction between Jordi and Greg and eventually acts as therapy as they had issues with their recently deceased mother. The road trip starts in Vietnam and then the outback fraught with obstacles and funny situations and some crazy off-the-wall characters.
This heartfelt story is full of hope that even after decades of secrets, and dysfunction, estranged families can come together and work through their problems. There are so many things to like about this book. The characters come to life and tell a poignant story in a humorous, but not overly sentimental way. Great dialogue drives much of the storytelling and the story moves at a fast pace.
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