The Deadly Serious Republic

Book excerpt: Max and Memie are the two principle characters. Max has an Irish father, Harry (Dingle) Bellman, and Latin American mother and grows up in desperately poor circumstances. He is a very bright, level-headed young man with natural social skills. Memie comes from an enormously wealthy background but is orphaned at the age of twelve. Sent off to the Defrugals Graduation School for the Super-Rich, she hates it and rebels against all and everything. Being taught that God is good and communism is bad, she chooses to take an opposing view. She is fearless in the face of danger and spends much time looking for revolutions of one sort or another. Max thinks Memie politically naive but, as friend and bodyguard, is forever trying to pull her back from the brink. By nature, she is difficult and neurotic but shows her caring side from time to time. Throughout there is an underlying sexual tension, but in the end, Max's efforts at keeping Memie safe comes to nothing.