Overview: A young adult drama set in Wollongong, Australia, this novel is about how the innocence and optimism of youth can be treated so shoddily, so contemptuously by the darker forces which sometimes drive big business today. Can winning ever only be about holding back the inevitable? This is a question both the good and the bad may like to ask themselves in their quieter moments.
Anna Waters, 17, is a smart girl from a good home who has a passion for natural medicine. Inspired by a medieval miracle worker, she wants to bring the people of her town to healthier ways of living.
Al Flanagan, 24, a smooth talking and super ambitious businessman who works for a multinational pharmaceutical company is not going to let some reckless young schoolgirl threaten his market share or career path. But how far will he go to protect his patch?
We all wish every David could overcome their Goliath. But let’s not get too romantic about this; sometimes the Davids of this world are just not patient or clever enough, or perhaps the Goliaths are just too strong. Hmmm.
‘The Shades of Paracelsus’ is also a novel about place. It explores the Illawarra region of Australia, a place where the abrupt and unarguable logic of the escarpment meets the tireless expanse of sapphire waters of a pacific ocean. See how this place shapes the thinking of its people.
Link to smashwords ebook version here.
Personal Comments: I had a sketch of this work in a box stored under my bed for many years. The inspiration for the novel came when my wife and I visited Salzburg on our whirlwind first trip to Europe in 1994. I visited the mausoleum of Paracelsus and had one of those ‘what if’ moments. I revised the manuscript during the winter break of first year in my creative writing degree and self published it in 2011. So it was on the public record well before the ‘shades’ fad for novel titles hit.