A Kelper's Tale

Kelps are seaweeds which proliferate in veritable forests around the shores of the Falkland Islands. To kelp, is to harvest the same from the sea, dry it, and burn it to produce a soda ash primarily consisting of sodium carbonate with high concentrations of iodine and alkali, traditionally used in soap and glass.

For as long as anybody recollected, Falkland Islanders had proudly referred to themselves as kelpers.

A Kelper’s Tale is the third in the trilogy of stories-novellas about the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Island dependencies in April 1964, and its aftermath.

La Argentina and Puerto Argentino tell two histories, that of the invasion and the years of occupation, and ask questions about where truth really lies.

A Kelper’s Tale is one young woman’s story, told in her own words; of a drably idyllic childhood at the ends of the earth, of invasion, exile, repatriation and a growing awareness that ultimately, the first and last casualty of war is truth.

Over four years have passed since the bloody events of 1964. What will the new year of 1969 bring for the peoples of the United Kingdom, the Argentine Republic, the occupiers of the Falklands Archipelago and the once British administered dependencies in the South Atlantic?

The Argentine believe the time of danger, that the likelihood of an attempt to reconquer Las Malvinas has passed but perhaps, the shape of the future is written between the lines of the story of one young woman?