The Sixties Series, Book 5

Due June 2026

(Preliminary cover)

English-born James Williamson, Danny Williamson’s cousin (Counterculture Dreams Book 3), gives up on a future with a pretty, blue-eyed blonde, Anneke van Engelen (The Counterculture Goddess Book 4). He purposely visits her hometown, Middelburg in Holland, to test her feelings. All he gets is ill temper and indifference, despite signs she liked him when she and her close friend Nienke Nijboer visited London in 1965. When he returns to London, he announces his intention to visit his Australian family in Sydney. He’ll be away for two years. So, in September 1966, he lands in Sydney where his cousins warmly welcome him.

After arranging accommodation and gaining a position as the senior English literature teacher at a posh Catholic school for young ladies, he thinks things could not have worked out more favourably. He does not know at that stage that the principal and deputy principal, Sister Nora and Sister Laura (In This Vale of Tears Book 2), have an aversion to men, and it was only his exceptional qualifications, a master’s degree in English literature, that landed him the job under sufferance of his masculinity.

Fulfilling a promise, he writes to Anneke and Nienke to tell them about his good fortune. To his amazement, he receives a warm letter from Anneke. More correspondence develops their relationship. To complicate things, he develops a liking for Cathy Dunn (Counterculture Deams), his cousin Danny’s former girlfriend. She returns his affection. He and Cathy discover later that Sister Laura is dabbling in the occult and goddess worship, an interest that seems linked to the growing counterculture movement.

To further complicate things, and conscious of the danger, he can’t help a developing attraction for one of his pupils, the poised, elegant, auburn-haired Elinor Bennett, daughter of well-to-do English parents who migrated to Australia in the 1950s. She subtly encourages his attention, which he struggles to handle.

His class of young ladies generally likes the suave English teacher, and he has to cope with lots of admiring smiles and impertinent questions about his private life. Foremost among these forward young ladies is the stunning, dark-haired coquette, Brenda Fahy, who shamelessly and mercilessly teases him. She eventually traps him in a compromising position. In his rush to escape, he trips and falls, suffering a severe concussion. Brenda, who is shamelessly connected with Sydney’s counterculture leaders, interprets the episode as a commitment. He struggles to persuade her that there’s no commitment.

The fatal mistake, however, that the inexperienced male teacher makes is his open sympathy for the painfully shy and uncertain Sally Wood. He must try to help her overcome her shyness and concentrate on her schoolwork. Her future depends on it. Unknown to him and the school’s management, her mother, Thelma Wood, is mistreating Sally.  Late in the year, when Sally can’t take the mistreatment any longer and disappears, James is blamed.

James has reached mental and physical exhaustion. His life becomes a struggle to deal with the various tensions, including his blond, blue-eyed correspondence girlfriend in Holland and his alleged lurid interest in Sally Wood. He reaches a stage where what began so promisingly threatens to collapse on him, ruining his reputation and teaching career forever. It will take an act of courage and determination to survive.

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