Ever Been Had - Kerry Pearmain

In 1944 a young boy leaves his Wagin home for boarding school in the historic Western Australian township of New Norcia. A grieving younger brother, a caring priest and two devoted nuns follow his journey from boarding school to the Navy where war and lost friendship shape his decision to retreat from all that is familiar to him. The loneliness which plagued him from childhood continues to tread close on his heels and he begins to question the decisions he has made as well as their impact on others. As hard as it was to retreat, the journey back to the town of his birth and the girl he left behind seems an even bigger mountain to climb. “Ever Been Had” is a fictional story set in a time in the history of Australia, in particular Western Australia, when unspoken rules and the expectations of others determined one’s life journey. Struggling at times against his own beliefs, Jonathan charts a passage shaped by the relationships he forms and events he confronts. It draws on the recollections of one man who was born in rural Western Australia but left when a teenager to join the Navy.