Bloodlines … Pedigree & Progeny

Robert A. Hilliard

Description

A young man determined to avenge his mother’s sexual assault by a powerful politician. The scions of two wealthy thoroughbred racing families, each trying to make his own mark in the world. A German family driven – and torn apart – by deeply held secrets. Bloodlines explores how our pasts and pedigrees can have unexpected impacts on our futures and progeny. Using as backdrop thoroughbred racing, breeding and betting parlors; bourbon distilleries; the arcane business of powder metal manufacturing, and the world’s “beautiful game” of soccer, author Rob Hilliard takes readers from post-World War II Germany to 1980s Kentucky and Virginia … from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. to Ireland, the European Continent and Israel … from the early years of the Civil Rights movement to the fall of the Berlin Wall. How these disparate worlds, locations and individuals become entwined over decades drives this sweeping story of corporate intrigue, international drama and, most of all, the family ties that bind them. 

Sujets

• General officer
• General
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977240316
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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Bloodlines … Pedigree & Progeny All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 Robert A. Hilliard v3.0
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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Cover Photo © 2023 www.gettyimages.com . All rights reserved - used with permission.
Outskirts Press and the "OP" logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEDICATION
With a title of Bloodlines … Pedigree & Progeny , it should come as no surprise that my multi-generational work of fiction is dedicated to my parents, George Leo Hilliard (1920-1983) and Caryl Ruth (Zucker) Hilliard (1927-2011); my two sons, Jeffrey Alan Hilliard and David Sean Hilliard, and my two grandsons, Liam Mason Hilliard and Graham Bennett Hilliard.
My father enlisted the day after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He became a tail gunner in a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber and was stationed in North Africa. Sergeant Hilliard was the only surviving crew member when his plane was shot down, the rear section severing upon impact in the Sahara. Rescued by British troops and taken to Palestine to recuperate, he was profoundly affected by witnessing the arrival of thousands of European Jews fleeing the Nazis and the Holocaust.
Introduced by former Dickinson High School classmate Leon Zucker to his kid sister, Caryl, George eventually took Miss Zucker’s hand in marriage ... but not before discarding the Catholic Church and adopting the Jewish faith.
Dad spent most of his professional career as an administrative assistant, first with the Hudson County Prosecutors Office and then with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, NJ. Mom eventually became head of the History Department at Jersey City’s Snyder High School. (Leon was the long-time head of the History Department at rival Lincoln High School.)
An only child by design, a great deal of forethought went into my upbringing. Family values included adherence to truth; respect for authority, an understanding of and appreciation for cultural and religious differences and a well-rounded education with an emphasis on our nation’s history. What better place, then, to spend my undergraduate years than at Thomas Jefferson’s University of Virginia.
Now on the "eve" of the 50 th anniversary of my "walking the lawn" at UVA, I have to say that life has become far more complicated and far more challenging for us all. I can only begin to fathom what lies ahead for the next generation.
Jeffrey, born with trisomy 21, has excelled in so many ways, offering his own unique brand of caring, love and appreciation to all he meets in our Charlottesville community. He and the love of his life, Amanda, are just beginning their life together.
Over the years, my relationship with David has grown in fits and starts. David has enjoyed a thriving career and together with his wonderful wife of 15 years is raising two kind, thoughtful and talented sons amid the mounting challenges of today’s world. I love them all and admire the family they have become.
Strong and fiercely independent women are fixtures in this work of fiction perhaps not surprisingly given my mother, daughter-in-law, and wife. More than 35 years ago, Kim Buckey agreed to marry me and, come what may, deal with "the whole package." Little did she realize that, in addition to helping me raise my two sons, that package included serving as editor in chief and sounding board as I wrote my memoir ( The Circus Is In Town: A Baseball Odyssey , Outskirts Press, Parker, CO, 2016) and the book you are about to read.
Bloodlines, whether in thoroughbred racing or in the lives of us humans, provide expectations but never a guarantee. As often as not, it’s the external factors that make a difference.
PROLOGUE
Pedigree – 1. the record of descent of an animal, showing it to be purebred; 2. the recorded ancestry, especially upper-class ancestry, of a person or family Progeny – a descendant or the descendants of a person or animal; offspring
***
Months before Germany unconditionally surrendered in World War II, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union met in Yalta to discuss that country’s future. The major objective was to avoid a repeat of what had happened after the First World War, when an economic collapse fueled nationalist resentment and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.
At the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945, the decision was made to divide Germany into four distinct occupation zones. The British were assigned the northwest quadrant, the French the southwest, and the Americans the southeast. With the Soviet army already occupying much of eastern Germany, the U.S.S.R. was placed in charge of the northeast quadrant, which included Berlin. The capital itself – fully surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory – was also subdivided into quadrants, with the British, French, Soviets and Americans each policing a different zone.
The situation in post-war Germany was dire. Millions of Germans were homeless from Allied bombing campaigns that razed entire cities. The economy and government were in shambles.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the years immediately following the Second World War were a time of great change across much of America. In Kentucky, however, much remained the same. Three industries continued to dominate the Bluegrass State – bourbon, coal and "the sport of kings," thoroughbred racing.
For Fabian Hauptmann and Gretchen Weiβ, it was sadness and an overwhelming desire to escape their shared wartime nightmare. For Governor Bentley Wellington and the young daughter of coal magnate Ezekiel Prescott, it was a time of joy and heady dreams of influence and shared power. It would take more than three decades for a series of seemingly inconsequential events to bring their lives together in a very consequential way.
Table of Contents
What Are The Odds?
Chapter 1 – Amid the Rubble of Dresden
Chapter 2 – Meet my Daughter, Governor
Chapter 3 – Of Politics & Other Matters
Chapter 4 – Hoops, Horses & Coming to Grips with the Truth
Chapter 5 – Development for Gretchen’s Business, Jürgen’s Fuβball
Chapter 6 – GWH Team at the MPIF Convention in Cincy
Chapter 7 – The Road to Perdition
Chapter 8 – Cutter Farms and Cutting Edge Stables
Chapter 9 – From 18th Infantry to the Mossad
Chapter 10 – Sean’s "Hotlanta" Connection
Chapter 11 – Operation Bluegrass
Chapter 12 – A Man of Many Talents
Chapter 13 – Bluegrass Sleuthing
Chapter 14 – Marci’s Take on Sleuthing … and Ilvento’s Part Deux
Chapter 15 – Following an American Dream?
Chapter 16 – The Seaside to A.C. Shuttle
Chapter 17 – Change of Pace
Chapter 18 – The Day Before …
Chapter 19 – Arranging a Reunion
Chapter 20 – The Unexpected at Historic Smithville Inn
Chapter 21 – Graveyard of Champions
Chapter 22 – Brooding About Breeding
Chapter 23 – "They were supposed to meet tomorrow!"
Chapter 24 – Angel in the Morning
Chapter 25 – Shock and Relief
Chapter 26 – Oh What a Night!
Chapter 27 – Dreams … and the Future of the Business
Chapter 28 – A Looming Board Decision
Chapter 29 – Pre-meeting Preparations
Chapter 30 – Harper’s Ferry
Chapter 31 – Present, Debate … and Sleep on It
Chapter 32 – A Day at the Track
Chapter 33 – Change in Riders
Chapter 34 – Sean’s Second Shot
Chapter 35 – Consuela Meets TJ and "Guests"
Chapter 36 – Bug Boy on a Tear
Chapter 37 – Mulling Things Over at Molly’s
Chapter 38 – Discussion with Daddy
Chapter 39 – "Brakes" of the Game
Chapter 40 – Take a Powder
Chapter 41 – A Transatlantic Link?
Chapter 42 – JFK to Düsseldorf
Chapter 43 – Memorial Day Marred
Chapter 44 – More Questions than Answers
Chapter 45 – AuTopsy Turvy?
Chapter 46 – Motive, Opportunity, Means in Deutschland as well
Chapter 47 – The Canadians
Chapter 48 – Acquisition Target
Chapter 49 – Let’s Go to the Audio Tapes
Chapter 50 – Reflections Interrupted
Chapter 51 – Prepping for the Tremont Stakes
Chapter 52 – A "FUBAR" Moment
Chapter 53 – Seems Everyone is Headed to Düsseldorf
Chapter 54 – Lighter in the Wallet
Chapter 55 – Woodrow
Chapter 56 – Reflect and Recalibrate
Chapter 57 – There are Facts … And There’s the Truth
Chapter 58 – What to File?... What to File?
Chapter 59 – A Reckoning
Chapter 60 – Means to an End … or Simply an End
Chapter 61 – Agreement in Sight?... But a Snag!
Chapter 62 – Conflagration & Pulverization
Chapter 63 – Hit Pause and Reconsider
Chapter 64 – A Waste of Taxpayer Dollars
Chapter 65 – The Stand-in … and an Extraction
Chapter 66 – The Incredible Happens at Elmont
Chapter 67 – Redefining Relationships
Chapter 68 – … Digesting a Proposal, Assembling a Team
Chapter 69 – Departures … and an Arrival
Chapter 70 – Change in Ownership
Ail In?... Beware the Cross Currents
Chapter 1 – Recover and Rethink
Chapter 2 – Restons Relocate Eastward, the Jeffries Drive South
Chapter 3 – Needed … a Beachhead for Bourbon
Chapter 4 – Recognizing "Talent"
Chapter 5 – Building a Future in Bardstown
Chapter 6 – Dive In?... Or Stay on the Sidelines
Chapter 7 – For TJ, a Respite … of Sorts
Chapter 8 – Brian and Gretta
Chapter 9 – Reunions
Chapter