The cultural revolution of the long 1960s (1960-1975) brought in one of the greatest cultural shifts the world has known. Music, dress, moral ideas, social manners, and political attitudes were turned upside down. The war generation hardly knew what motivated the post-war generation. Across Western Society a social fissure opened. The leaders of the revolution were twenty-year-olds ('Don't trust anyone under 30') mostly from an educated middle-class background.
Counterculture Dreams
follows the lives of a group of young people in Sydney who navigate the changes, some grasping the changes, others resisting and even condemning them, and still others making disastrous choices. The story centers on Danny Williamson and his younger sister, Angela.
Danny ends school, innocent of the traps in society that others, including Angela, see. He forms a relationship with clever Cathy Dunn who clings to her Catholic traditions. He begins university in 1963 with Cathy, though at different universities. Meeting outlandish counterculture leader, Ronnie Newell, whose audacity impresses him, disturbs his relationship with Cathy. Not fully aware of the influences around Ronnie and his crowd he gradually drifts away from Cathy. He does not see where he is heading, despite Angela's and Cathy's warnings.
All the while Angela plays a mysterious game with Danny's best friend, Max Gallagher. But is it a game? Nobody is sure until Prime Minister Robert Menzies announces a national service scheme to meet the threat of communism taking over Southeast Asia, beginning with Vietnam. Danny and Max are eligible for the call-up.
Gerda van den Donker, introduced in TIMES OF DISTRESS and with a bigger role in IN THIS VALE OF TEARS reappears. Jannie de Kam, also introduced in IN THIS VALE OF TEARS, reappears in close company with Gerda van den Donker.
The Sixties series
will consist of eight connected but stand-alone stories. The themes of the 'Goddess', neo-paganism, and Gnosticism are threads through the stories. The historical, political, and ideological background is the cultural revolution of the long 1960s and the Second Vatican Council. The author who lived through those times recreates its atmosphere.
Book 1 Times of Distress
Book 2 In this Vale of Tears
Book 3 Counterculture Dreams
Book 4 The Counterculture Goddess (2025)
Book 5 Love in the Counterculture (2025)
Book 6 Dreams to Nightmare (2026)
Book 7 The Castle of Heavenly Bliss
Book 8 A Sense of Loss due 2026