Spoiler! 

The stirring sequel to The Bringing Down of the Hawk,. A gripping story involving industrial espionage in New Zealand and the effect it has on the lives of Auckland business man Ted Starling, his bride to be Dawn Graham and those close to them. The opening chapter involves German fighter pilot ace Broer Altschul and describes the events that led to his relocation to New Zealand following his capture in North Africa. Dawn Graham, the founder of her own design and fashion organization, working only in New Zealand wool products, unknowingly becomes the target of lightning sketch artist Altschul who has the ability and means to reproduce her exclusive designs and present them to the New Zealand market before her own marketing processes can be established. Ted Starling’s failing heart induces him to make drastic decisions in his life and we are introduced to New Zealand bushman Ryan Elliott in the backwoods of Taupo who becomes the donor of the life saving organ. Many of these characters overflow from the previous book and this story deals with the strength and love between a male and a female in more mature years of life. It also deals with the private lives of unscrupulous characters such as Altschul and his conniving colleague Slade who are the parasites of life who choose to grow fat from the pickings from people such as Ted and Dawn. Dawn Graham’s designs are under threat as copyright thieves threaten her industry when she is most vulnerable with Ted in a life-or-death situation. Ted becomes the recipient of a new heart and this story exposes the personal feelings of those involved as relatively the subversive attacks on the structure of their lives take second place. Ted recovers and he and Dawn marry bringing into the story characters from the past who have always stood by Ted in difficult times. Ted’s character is tested when Dawn conceives a child she is destined not to carry for nature’s full term and heartache and despair tear the story line apart. In a personal grief Ted forsakes everything and everyone close to him, but eventually finds the strength to seek the comfort from long time family friends. With his replacement heart failing he understands he has been on Borrowed Time and undertakes to reveal a few personal secrets and straighten the record. What do we have here? We have a story of love, of loyalty, of failure and extreme success and of course, recrimination. We have a story of villains who become victims of their greed and pay the ultimate price. Borrowed Time portrays in historic detail the lives of a potpourri of characters who are influential in the directions the lives of Ted Starling and Dawn Graham take. Ted eventually is faced with the ultimate test and takes his Maker to task for the troubles inflicted upon him. He seeks refuge in his Church in the Wild Wood and emerges with what to him is total understanding, having made a vital decision. Travel to Kansas to Nashville, to Northern Ireland, to New South Wales and get into the minds and hearts of the good people and the bad, whose personal schemes and actions tip the balance first one way and then another as Ted Starling continues to survive on BORROWED TIME. His successes derive from his belief in love, justice, loyalty, honesty, integrity and self-sacrifice; his determination for vengeance derives from his desire for justice for others.This book is a spoiler for The Bringing Down of the Hawk. It is recommended the Hawk is read first.

Do you want crime? New Zealand crime? You have it here in spades as terror and violent death is loose in the Catlins of the South Island. An animal’s only reason for killing is food. This Catlin’s killer is not an animal, but a monster with another reason to kill. What is that reason? Gloria Stuart’s dead body is found in her home, a remote farmhouse in the Clutha Valley; brutally murdered, stabbed to death in a savage attack. In the main bedroom the unconscious form of her husband Angus is found, covered in blood and reeking of alcohol. The jury’s verdict was concise, delivered in a short time. Guilty as charged; life imprisonment said the judge. The one child of this marriage was son Andrew, sixteen years old and in his first year of extended study at University. Since the cradle father and son had been at odds with each other and on many occasions as Andrew reach adolescence Angus had invited him to leave home. ‘Don’t come back, ever.’ With the death of his mother Andrew had more reason to hate his father. He broke from school and travelled the world. Angus served fourteen years of a life sentence before being freed. He returned to his home, the scene of the crime on 200 acres of land. After a week following his release he was found hanging in the hallway of the house with a note asking his son for forgiveness. Andrew’s love for his mother was unequalled. He returned with bitterness in his heart unable to forgive. His purpose was to claim his heritage and sell the land with its derelict home, but he is puzzled by the fact someone has been tending his mother’s grave since the time she was laid to rest. Andrew finds death and fear stalk the valley. The Otago towns have been troubled by the disappearance of children and strangers are met with the same distrust as that extended to locals. He finds his land is a sought after commodity and stalls over an offer from a local land baron who has had ownership of the land on a perpetual lease since the killing. Andrew is reunited with his sole surviving relative, Blind Robbie, a blind banjo picking grandfather who settled in the Catlins as a pioneer in the days of steam and logging. As Andrew learns of his family history from Blind Robbie, the ‘house of secrets’, on the banks of the Clutha, burns. Andrew is drawn deeply into another disappearance which threatens the new relationships he is establishing. Blind Robbie’s tales of early New Zealand are enthralling and Andrew learns of an uncle he never knew who had left the district hurriedly before Andrew’s birth. Andrew is introduced to a lifelong friend of his father, Jack Johnson, and their relationship endures the fear and distrust that lurks in the Catlins and surrounding areas. From Jack, Andrew learns much about his father and is in turmoil as he considers his past and the temptation to alter his opinion about the man he called father. Rebecca Johnson, Jack’s daughter, has never recovered from the trauma of her fifteenth birthday when her twin sister, Rachelle, disappeared on a routine shopping trip into town. No trace of Rachelle was ever found which added to the horror of local legend. Andrew is attracted to Rebecca and she to him, but he is unable to breakdown the barrier of distrust that has existed between her and society since Rachelle’s disappearance. With demand for his land growing and attractive cash offers being made by other sources Andrew decides to sell, but is sucked into a vortex of horror as an old school friend disappears. Both Banjo Robbie and Jack Johnson know the secret of the Stuart home and this story reaches a climax when Andrew Stuart comes face to face in terrifying circumstances with the perpetrators of the horrendous crimes that have plagued the Clutha Valley for twenty years.

 Fifty years of passion and intrigue, heartbreak and devotion are exposed as a father and a son grow together as New Zealanders to form an inseparable relationship. Their story crosses five continents and five decades to culminate in a powerful, well planned and particularly personal act of retribution. Young Teddy Starling had been distressed by the death of his mother in Flying Bomb attack that destroyed their home in South London, but was compensated when reunited with his father, thought dead in the African desert. Teddy Starling the boy grew to Ted Starling the man and life was good for the Starlings in Auckland. Eddie’s time in uniform in France and the desert is well documented as is Ted’s, as he matured to serve his two years for the queen in her khaki uniform. Exciting things happened in Egypt that re-established old relationships. Out of uniform once more Ted dedicated his life to that of his father and newly found friends in New Zealand. As a successful businessman Ted travelled to Sydney where he was is devastated by the sudden death of his father while away. On his return Ted decided his father, Eddie, had lost his life in suspicious circumstances and Ted’s one reason to live was to expose the one responsible. Ted’s plan is powerful and intrinsic, but became frustrated when he learned he had a terminal heart condition. He was advised his life expectancy was not sufficient to bring his adversary before the courts. His endeavours were further disrupted when the 1987 stock market crash claimed the life of the man he despised. Ted Starling recognised this death as fait accompli and now alone in the world he was satisfied his life after fifty years was at an end. Now the inexplicable happened; Ted fell in love. Dawn Graham, stunningly beautiful, ten years Ted’s junior and alarming rich and successful in her own right was smitten by Ted and failed to understand his reasons for rejecting her. Their story is a golden thread running through this family saga which is filled with delightful characters, visits colourful locations in Australia and New Zealand and explores local culture. It describes in detail The Bringing Down of the Hawk, how and why. It is a tale of love and laughter, of dedication and loyalty, pain and passion that reaches from London’s East End through to the wilds of New Zealand’s North Island to domicile in Auckland City. It lingers in the outback of Australia’s Snowy Mountains, the bustle of Paddy’s Markets and the fearful iced terrain of Mount Erebus. It is a powerful family saga in which life and death fail to discriminate

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Read on MacBeth - pages of entertaining reading here for you.



                                 

Click here for the direct link to Austin Macauley - publishers Canary Wharf London.

http://www.austinmacauley.com/book/lost-time

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1785544462