Jillia's Man, Gone Astray (ePub)

Jillia's Man, Gone Astray (1st book of series) tells the story of two people: Jillia, born into a prominent and affluent Montevideo family; and Char, the bastard son of a Baltimore industrialist and a devoted woman from the ghetto.

He - reared in Baltimore's slums - steals and fights to exist, hunts and fishes with an Afro stepfather, leaves school at twelve, and apprentices as a shipbuilder but rejected as too unruly. At thirteen, he stows away aboard a sailing ship to Montevideo. At fifteen years, he wins the Golden Gloves. All this before Jillia is born. By age thirty, Char is a belligerent foreman in his biological father's factory. From there, he finds himself trapped for centuries into prolonged sleep.

She, reared to enjoy wealth, is plunged into poverty after her father's bankruptcy and suicide. To provide for her mother and brothers, she reverts to juvenile prostitution, enduring until 'Dr. Right' comes along and lures her into the 'prolonged sleep' program. How she lives onboard the spaceship, and then returns to Earth five hundred years later, she never reveals, only telling that her two earth-born children grew prematurely old, and she watched them reach puberty at seven, menopause at fifteen, and death at twenty, aged and haggard. To escape this crushing pain, she flees into the wilderness, and there survives alone for countless years.

Char and Jillia meet in a rural tavern atop an ancient tower. There they watch the sun's setting, watch the moonrise, and talk in whispers until sleep invades, only to stray apart the next day. Without knowing her opinion of him, but dazed by a yearning, he searches a vast wilderness where a friend says she lives. Finally, they are reunited.

However, not all that sprouts will bloom to brilliance. After living together for several years, Char grows restless, insisting that they leave their wilderness home and seek the promised village. She resists; he insists; they barely exist thru a winter of bitter cold and food shortages.

Three seasons later, their pantry is full. Char begins his venture alone to the promised village and, listening with rapture, hears her parting words: "I stay here for I am woman, and do not stray about with a wanderer. Go find your world, find your purpose in life, plant roots, and gain your fortune. I want this for you! When you have done these things, come back for me."