This is a profile for one of the main characters from “The Meadow” novel. Only the main features are illustrated by silhouette as it would be impossible to paint the ideal face that would suit every reader which is very personal.

Steve Ballantire is six feet four inches tall and for a man who is in his early forties, he stands erect as a Royal Horse Guards sentry and is as strong as his lean features portray to an admiring and discerning eye.

He lives at Ocean View in Elwick village, his farm that overlooks the North Sea, and is an expert in horsemanship and a master in martial arts, the defensive combat stance of Yin Bagua Zhang being his speciality. If you placed a fencing foil into his palm he would also display another side to him that an Olympic scout would not pass over.

To top everything off, Steve is a professor specialising in applied physics and mathematics and is head of his department at Newcastle University in north east England. It is an understatement to say that his immense talents belie what lay beneath the very humble façade of this much sought-after bachelor.

To an outsider, he looks pretty much like any other fit, good-looking guy, but he houses something deep within his spirit that does not make him just another Joe Public. In fact what Steve possesses has yet to reach his conscious awareness.

It is only when his best friend Brad knocks on his door one fine morning and announces that he has found the stud that he has been searching for, that matters begin to turn. As a trained vet, Brad knew exactly what to look for, and even though he found a thoroughbred that had a serious leg injury, it didn’t deter him from recommending this beautiful animal to his life-long pal.

And so a special relationship began between man and horse and as it evolved, it seemed as though this friendship attracted other things into Steve’s life. As it did so, certain feelings that were hidden deep inside of his consciousness began to emerge.

All of a sudden his immediate environment was surrounding him with visions of things to come. Strangers begin to enter his life and it is impossible for him to ignore them. He must follow his instincts and intuition because as someone who understands physics, he knows that what lies at the surface of his present awareness, it can be multiplied tenfold in comparison to what remains hidden; just as the iceberg hides its huge frozen underbelly beneath the vast ocean.

Soon, events begin to unfold which convey to Steve the true purpose for being where he is at the right time and at the right place. Now his dreams turn into memories and those memories rekindle and reshape the reality which has surrounded his life.

Steve’s lineage belongs to a farming tradition that goes back hundreds of years. However his soul transcends all historical records to a time when the world was very different; where an expression of purpose becomes manifest and a young man soon discovers that his existence is to be measured by deed and intention reflecting suffering and exhilaration in equal proportion.

It is said that the physical universe is a construct made into form out of angelic thought. “The Meadow” demonstrates this by illustrating the interconnectedness of all things as this young soul is guided by universal laws to a point of reference where he eventually realizes who he really is. He’s not alone in this venture — no one is ever alone. However, Steve’s purpose in life is mirrored by one other; someone who makes his whole existence complete.

Follow Steve in the pages of “The Meadow” and witness how things slowly begin to change for him.