Might (ePub)

An injured young basketball star of the small coastal holiday town of Sandy Bay wants to spread his wings in the wider world to free himself and his family from the spiralling negativity into which he sees the town descending. Unemployment, boredom and youth violence grip the town and Nathan Kirk is unable to take advantage of the many opportunities for work in the city due to the fragile mental condition of his wife (Sharon) who has suffered from severe depression since giving birth to their only child. Dealing with his wife's suicide attempts, while juggling work as a bus driver, looking after the child and the cooking and cleaning, Nathan finds the strength to carry his burden and survive by looking optimistically to a better future.

A surprise piece of information regarding his wife's Aboriginal ancestry leads to a dramatic transformation in her psychological condition. Sharon undergoes a frightful resurrection and commits herself to her Aboriginality with a demonic obsession. In her unstable mental condition, Sharon joins forces with Natalie Thomas, another local woman of distant Aboriginal heritage who rages against white society with hostility, hatred and spite. Suspicious of his wife's sanity in the face of hostile verbal abuse and seeing his chance of escaping Sandy Bay to pursue his projected future getting slimmer, Nathan's strength begins to unravel as he faces the stark reality of his situation. Nathan becomes embroiled in and tragically succumbs to the web of confusion and contradiction that reaches into the very heart of the modern Australian nation and its unresolved history of conflict and injustice.

Might is narrated by Shane Whitmore, a journalist who visits Sandy Bay on retreat in order to discover a basis upon which to rebuild his life after finalising his divorce. In an effort to simplify his life and 'get back to nature', Whitmore escapes from Sydney and his 'successful' career to learn about the Australian wilderness and Aboriginal perspectives upon the land and life. Whitmore relates the tale of Nathan Kirk with compassion and nuance as he explores the issues of identity, Australian and Aboriginal culture, and the powerful influence that history exerts within the present.