Patent Lies

A legacy can be a challenge. Grace Heatherton throws down the gauntlet to the people in her life before she dies. They are friends and enemies alike and what is at stake might be more than a literary masterpiece. Could it be the lost journal of Lieutenant James Cook on his voyage to a great south land? Or is it a ruse to continue Grace’s influence in their lives?

This novel boldly sails across the lives of Cook and Banks as they do battle at sea. The class system, so rigid and protective on land, is not so secure on water. Death, too, is a watery state as the famous novelist appears and reappears in their lives. Sometimes it feels as though she will never make a graceful exit. The voyage of discovery belongs to everyone, past and present, friend and foe. Ultimately is Grace’s bequest selfless or self-serving? Does that matter in the land of the living as people struggle to find identity, love, a place in the world?

This comic novel has been described by Roger Mc Donald as ‘brilliant and wise.’ The shadow cast by European history is short and dagger sharp. It leaves the legatees with no choice but to reflect on, ignore at their peril, or recast into something rich and strange, the contents of the Heatherton estate. Friend, mentor, or enemy the writer has something to say.