The historical adventure ‘ONCE WERE BROTHERS’, by Lance Morcan, is set in 19th Century New Zealand and is available as an audiobook courtesy of Amazon’s Audible initiative. To listen to the Prologue, click on “Virtual voice sample” at: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Once-Were-Brothers/dp/B0FDKY8XNY/
The inspiration for this tale was the real-life abduction by Maori of one Caroline “Queenie” Perrett, a young white girl who happened to be one of two identical twins living in New Zealand’s Taranaki district. The girl’s bereft father spent years unsuccessfully searching for his missing daughter. That true story had a happy ending many years later after a chance sighting in Wellington saw the separated twins reunited. It turned out the abducted sister had been raised as a Maori by the tribe that had taken her; she’d had two loving husbands, both Maoris, and had children by them both; she spoke fluent Te Reo Māori and had no desire to return to her previous life.
In ‘ONCE WERE BROTHERS’ the Thomas family’s lives will never be the same again when seven-year-old Daniel Thomas is abducted from their farm by Maori angered by the desecration of land that is tapu, or sacred. The land contains the bones of their iwi’s ancestors. The culprit, Daniel’s father, devotes his remaining years to searching for his missing blue-eyed, blond-haired son. Until his death a decade later, he’s assisted in his search by Daniel’s identical twin brother Benjamin. Like his father, Benjamin believes Daniel is still alive. Twenty years later and now a family man himself with children of his own, Benjamin receives a tip-off that could confirm one way or another whether his brother is alive or dead.
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“A heartfelt story of a family that refuses to give up hope. A memorable read, I highly recommend to all.” -Sheri A. Wilkinson (Amazon 5-star Book Reviews)
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