PartTwo_Siblings

"It centres on Kelley Keaton, a Wyoming farm girl who is sent to the city to live with an aunt. She returns years later to find the family home threatened by a war with a ruthless cattle baron, Ed Parsons, who wants their land. Parsons will stop at nothing, bribing the local sheriff to harass the Keatons and threatening violence through his thugs. The avaricious Parsons particularly covets so the ranch belonging to the Keaton's neighbours the Taylors, who have formed "the Alliance'' with the Keatons to guarantee their property and their freedom. Before the end of the novel there will be more bribery, some extortion, two murders, a trial, romance and everything you expect from populist novels."

Excerpt from the unabridged review of HEARTLAND On the Side of Angels by Troy Lennon at The Daily Telegraph, 11.08.11 

You know, when I first began writing HEARTLAND, it's first draft in fact, at the very centre of the story was Kelley Keaton. She adored her brother Mart. She couldn't bear his BFF Luke Taylor. That was the initial premise. It was like a sibling love triangle. You can't have my brother for your brother, he's mine and you are a great big pain, so nick off. That was the dynamic.

Sibling relationships are very complicated at times. You can love your sibling at the very same moment that you can't abide them. And sometimes their friends leave you shaking your head. What the hell are they thinking hanging with that... individual? I have numerous siblings; there are six of us and when we were growing up our parents had their hands full. I seem to recall my mother used to disappear up to the shops to get away from us. Overall, as people we didn't turn out too badly. But as siblings there are issues between us that are incredibly complex.

What I love about Kelley is that she doesn't entertain a whole lot of forebearance with Luke, as a child or as an adult. She lets him have it, he knows where he stands. There is no place in her world, or Mart's if she could manage it, for him. I admire her for that because my upbringing was strictly 'don't let it all hang out'. It was a risky business speaking your mind.

And I also knew what kind of people Kelly, Luke and Mart would be. What made them tick. What motivated them. The black, white and grey bits of their personalities. And what other people thought about them. Their relationships with others. I knew their history and how they grew up and what that meant for them as young adults. I knew things about them they had yet to discover and would discover as their lives got more and more complicated, as our adult lives tend to do.

All well and good... but it wasn't enough. They needed to be tested in fire. Their character, their beliefs, their desires, their relationships. 

That fire was defending freedom. 

That fire was battling terrorism.

That fire was withstanding the onslaught of unfettered capitalism.

They were my three protagonists. Could they, so wrapped up in their own problems, stop their squabbling and unite to get the job done? Everything they loved stood on the brink of destruction - did they have what it takes?

Maintain freedom, uphold democracy. Fight terror wherever it threatens or strikes. Withstand the cruel fallout of greed and corruption?

And could they, in a spirit of heroism, for the sake of integrity, make the journey as important as the outcome?

Which begs the question: can we? Can the world? Are we brave enough to identify, understand and face the core issues that prevent freedom, peace and prosperity for every individual on the planet?

It is a scientific fact, drawn from the study of mitochondrial DNA (which is passed down from mother to child), that all human beings on the planet today share one common female ancestor 200,000 years ago. [New Scientist, 16 July 2011]

Whoa, baby Mama!... there's like six to seven billion of us currently and she is like our Mom!!!! So, does that mean we are... like siblings?

Man, we have got to get our sibling issues sorted.

Are we - in a spirit of heroism, for the sake of integrity, for the sake of humanity, out of respect for the woman who gave us life - brave enough to overcome those complex sibling issues, and usher in a much-needed era of peace?

I wonder.