The Headland
The Kelly family live in an old house perched on the headland. When twelve-year-old Aisling finds a letter her mother wrote years before, lies, secrets, and people from the past surface, leading the family into a struggle to hold onto their home and each other.
Set on a fictional coastal town in eastern Australia, “The Headland” explores the tenuous and tenacious ties that bind a family.
“Surely it’s less complicated than people make out–when you love each other, you just get on with it, don’t you?”
~ Cal Kelly (character from “The Headland”)
Reading Lessons
Superlative Literary Journal November 2025
The morning sun’s shining straight at the tomatoes like it’s taking full aim; two of them are perfectly ripe and ready to go. They’ll be good for dinner tonight: some rice, garlic, toss in some coriander seeds. I’m kneeling by a patch of dirt, turning the soil and picking out the weeds that also like this particular strip of sunshine when the screen door squeaks. The old man is at the top step in his PJs and those grungy old slippers. He sees me. Wouldn’t expect me out here—I’m usually asleep at this time of day. I imagine Roy tells his mates down the Diggers that his hippie boarder is an odd one. For a second I wonder if he wishes he hadn’t opened the door. But he’s got momentum and there’s no turning back….
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