How do you make sense of the past when it suddenly explodes into the present? In post-war Japan, Eric Keeling must investigate an alleged war crime, but do his actions constitute a further crime? In New Zealand, half a century later, this is the question that confronts his two children. They have grown up with a difficult father, who was traumatised by his past as a prisoner of war. Was he a war hero, or guilty of an unscrupulous act of revenge? As their father loses his hold on reality, they must sift through the facts and fictions of what really happened, and in the process they discover a new sense of family. Taking unexpected turns, Lucky Bastard is a powerful novel in three acts. The work of a prize-winning writer, it is vividly portrayed, moving and thought-provoking.