Morcan Books & Films

My inspiration for this short story was the real-life abduction by Maori of a young white girl who happened to be one of two identical twins living in 19th Century New Zealand. 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, seven-year-old Daniel Thomas is abducted from the family farm in New Zealand’s Far North by Maoris opposed to the presence of white settlers. 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.

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.

Once Were Brothers is available via Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082Z5FBVZ/

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