The Bringing Down of the Hawk

A gripping family saga involving love, heartache, war, crime and retribution. The share market crash in October 1987 affected the lives of many New Zealanders. None more than that of Ted Starling, a childhood immigrant carried to those shores in 1946 in the wake of World War 2. Ted was ten years old when his father Staff Sergeant Eddie Starling was engaged with the 18th Battalion of the Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force combating the might of Rommel's armour in the North African desert. Eddie survived the ravages of Dunkirk, but suffered severe injury. His shell-shocked body was transported in its amnesic condition to New Zealand where a new life with a new identity was established. Sixty years of passion and devotion are exposed as a father and a son grow together 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. 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. Then the inexplicable happened; Ted fell in love.