HARROWING

Johnny is a child growing up Lisbon in the utter chaos that followed the Carnation Revolution in 1974. The rest of his family are likewise affected by the social unrest. Nobody is looking after the people in Lisbon. The military and the upper echelons of Lisbon's administrators are too busy struggling with each other for power and control of Lisbon and Portugal. Johnny s family is a microcosm of dysfunction, of instability and violence. Of the two sons in the family Johnny bears the larger burden of his parents failed marriage. It is not surprising that, along with many citizens of Lisbon, Johnny ends up with a serious addiction at a very young age. It is one that will take him to many parts of Europe in search of free and unbridled indulgence in life threatening substances. This is not the end of the story though. Johnny does not die from his addiction and miracles happen that bring him to the sunny, sandy shores of Australia. The Lucky Country offers him freedom that he has found nowhere else in his travels, most particularly freedom from the things that nearly killed him elsewhere. For Johnny, Australia is not so lucky though. Less to do with luck than with manipulation, he ends up in the clutches of a female force to be dealt with; one that is aided and abetted by an unlikely partner that, in his case, favours gender over truth. As a result, Johnny s courage puts him in a place where he keeps company with heresy. What Johnny learned in a Rehabilitation Centre in Belgium will follow him through all his trials and tribulations that follow. His experience proves that we all have a choice in how our lives roll out, even if the victories are momentary and we have to grasp them quickly and hold them close.