Beginnings - Gary Heilbronn

It is early 1939 and the end of the Spanish Civil War. Tragedy and an ancient cycle of murder and revenge stalk Maria's every step as she and her young family are drawn into the inescapable truths of their genetic background; and they both begin to understand how the ever-present events of the distant past still determine their destinies. As the young mother tries to rebuild a life for herself and her surviving child, another war, nazi occupation, collaboration and resistance followed by the injustices of liberation and divisive political forces in France and Spain cast a shadow over the decades that follow. These times see Anna, as a child, revisiting, or is it just imagining, moments in the past when her ancestors faced ‘life and death’ choices. With these experiences she develops clearer insights into her true nature as she matures into a young woman and rises to face treachery and violence. Meanwhile, Maria struggles with a world where the unfairness of evil’s victories over good and the arbitrariness of life and death evoke only confusion, uncertainty and an almost a loss of faith. She finally begins to find some peace as the scene is set for the coming of a terrible vengeance when the ancient and more recent cycles of murder and revenge come full circle, leaving Maria just another victim, and Anna, like her ancestors before her, with little choice as to her life and her future.