Harry and Sara

Harry Harrigan, tough Australian financial investigator, has been brought in from the cold after two hazardous years travelling the world and solving embezzlements and frauds in some of the world's biggest companies, working for the giant American company, Balfour G. His boss, George Balfour, has big plans for him but Harry's immediate task on returning to Brisbane, in Australia, is to find and marry his long-time love, Sara Grayson. She's been trapped in a bad marriage with a difficult and devious husband who frustrates all her attempts to obtain a divorce, even though he left the marriage after a few days and has returned only to frustrate Sara's case for divorce. Harry devises a slightly illegal scheme to overcome Sara's problems and, by the time he is able to return home, Sara is free. They are married in Sara's hometown, Elmsford, a small cattle town in Central Queensland, not far from Harry's hometown, Monaldo where they met and fell in love. Harry resigns from Balfour G in order to take over his family company Pattersons Industries and they settle down to domestic bliss.This is shattered when Sara is seriously injured in a riding accident and is ill for two years. She recovers and returns to management of her growing family. Sara is beautiful, bright and energetic and unwittingly begins to take control of the family and, eventually of Harry, intruding on business decisions despite his huge experience. Harry had seen this happening but was so happy to have his Sara back he declined to check her. Eventually Sara goes too far and Harry decides he can lo longer live with her, although he still loves her. He leaves Sara and resists all attempts by family and friends to reunite them. They had been down this path before when Sara broke off their engagement and Harry now fears they are in the same sad position. He begins to think of divorce, but Sara has a plan to win him back....

Harry Harrigan, tough Australian financial investigator, has been brought in from the cold to enjoy a quiet domestic life in Brisbane, Australia, after a hazardous two years solving financial crimes all over the world--non-stop. His boss, George Balfour, believes that Harry, having just survived an attempt on his life during his final and biggest inquiry, has done enough. He appoints him manager of the company's Queensland branch, but indicates he will want him in New York in the future , with a view to taking over Balfour G as chief executive. But Harry's immediate goal is to marry Sara Grayson, a beautiful girl from a small cattle town in Central Queensland. They've been in love, but separated, for four years. In a confused state, believing wrongly that Harry had fathered an illegitimate child, Sara had broken off their engagement and made a bad and hasty marriage to a difficult and devious man, who leaves the marriage almost immediately but continues to frustrate Sara's attempt to get a divorce. As he was leaving for his first assignment Harry devised a slightly illegal plan to help Sara and she is now free. Now they are married and settled in Brisbane. Their domestic bliss is shattered, however, when Sara suffers severe brain damage in a riding accident and is in hospital for two years, much of it on life support. Harry is never far away. Sara eventually recovers but is not the same. A risky but possibly curative operation is offered through the Balfour family and Sara, who has thought of suicide because of her mental state, accepts. Harry has to be present and helping in the surgery. It works to the extent that Sara is invited to appear before a Congressional subcommittee which is inquiring into the surgery. The beautiful Sara and handsome Harry are a sensation in the United States and, for a while, Australia. They return home to their comfortable anonymity where Harry has taken control of his family company Pattersons Industries. He has inherited a third share from his mother and is now becoming a wealthy man. He and Sara set up a charitable foundation to dispose of their money, but more importantly, to help those less fortunate. But since returning to full health, the now energetic and vibrant Sara has taken enthusiastically to management of her family, where once, in her illness, Harry had ruled. She assumes more and more control. Harry observes this but he is so happy to have his old Sara back that he doesn't interfere, afraid he'll cloud her happiness. He realises eventually that he now has no say in their lives and tries to talk to Sara but she is beyond listening and Harry realises their marriage is in trouble. It comes to a head when Harry, having used his business skills to investigate the worth of a cattle property his mother-in-law has inherited, proposes to buy it and form a family company. Sara, now the decision-maker, dismisses the idea, suggesting that Harry, a townie, wouldn't know enough about such a rural undertaking, to succeed. Harry tells Sara all that he knows, disclosing that the property has been an exceptional one and very profitable. He then calls off the deal, packs his bag and leaves Sara, telling her he still loves her but can no longer live with her. A distraught Sara begs him to stay but he is adamant, resisting all attempts by family and friends to bring about a reconciliation. Living in Brisbane, away from Sara, in Elmsford, he begins to think of divorce. But Sara has a plan...

R L Humphries is a former journalist who lives in retirement by the sea in Queensland, Australia, not far from where he was born and trained as a newspaper reporter. On completing his time as a trainee he was called to a country town some hundreds of kilometres away to help in the family business. He stayed for five years and his experiences there gave him the material for the Harry series of novels he was to write later, in retirement. The call of journalism took him to Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, where he became a general reporter and sub-editor on the State's largest morning daily newspaper. The Australian Broadcasting Commission offered him a job as a reporter in Papua/New Guinea in 1960 so he transferred to Port Moresby where he met and married his West Australian wife. Among the major stories he covered was the search for Michael Rockefeller, son of Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York. Michael Rockefeller was an anthropologist working in Dutch Western Papua and disappeared while swimming to shore to seek help for his overturned canoe. RLH used his local knowledge and contacts to get his copy out while his competitors including a Pulitzer Prize winner from the NY Times and other leading reporters from America and Australia, fumed at the delays. His Radio Australia reports to New Guinea told them how far behind they were. It was alleged that he bribed the local postmaster but RLH always denied this. Later he made numerous trips back to Western Papua to cover the so-called Indonesian invasion , when paratroopers were dropped, and the handing over of that country to Indonesia by the United Nations, leading to the colonization of that formerly happy nation by the Indonesians. He also covered the first general elections in Papua/New Guinea, producing an election broadcast in three languages--English, Papuan Motu and Pidgin. Eventually, he was transferred to Brisbane for leave and training in anticipation of a move to Singapore for the ABC but was offered a position in the Queensland State Government which he accepted. He became an administrator and by the time of his retirement was head of administration in the government's largest department. He retired to the seaside where fishing and golf occupied him until he returned to writing. The Harry series of novels was a result. He is now researching another novel about his great grandfather, killed by aborigines while working as a shepherd in Central Queensland.