Dualities

How to maintain relevance within the context of the life of his beloved daughter Althea becomes a paramount dilemma for Rory Duryea, a fiercely independent Irish-Australian special news correspondent, upon the breakdown of his marriage to the girl's mother. Determined that he will not fade into oblivion as a mostly absentee father, he begins writing her regular missives once she passes a certain age. They encapsulate much of his experience of life and the world as a journeyman reporter determined to be where the news is, whether that news is widely known or largely ignored by other media outlets. Althea's understanding of her father builds slowly but surely. She is emotionally affected by the example of his life choices, and as a young woman begins to emulate him in her own idiosyncratic way. Nearing retirement, Rory decides to visit and report on the goings-on in an Asian trouble spot. When a long period of time passes without word from him, Althea undertakes dual trips to the country in question, hoping to discover his fate. Dualities is a novel about the insurmountable resilience of a love bond in the face of the profound impediments of distance and physical absence, against the backdrop of a skewered world rife with antithesis.