Denison Town once stood on the edge of the New South Wales outback - a scattering of cottages, dust roads and hard-won hope. Today, nothing remains but a lonely cemetery. Among its weathered stones lies a headstone bearing three names: Grace Anne, Hannah, and Stanley Ronald Bayliss, with only the initials J.F. Bayliss marking the husband and father who survived them. History records little else.
This novel imagines the journey behind the names history left behind.
Echoes of Hope: An Australian Odyssey is a deeply moving historical novel inspired by a real family tragedy in Denison Town, NSW. When Joseph Bayliss loses his wife Hannah and their two children, Grace Ann and newborn Stanley Ronald, his world collapses. Overwhelmed by grief, he leaves behind the life he once knew and wanders the Australian bush, searching for meaning, memory, and the God he fears has abandoned him.
As Joseph retraces the steps of his past - from the rugged inland plains to the Hawkesbury River - he encounters the people, places, and quiet mercies that begin to stitch his heart back together. Through the steadfast love of family, the compassion of community, and the gentle presence of grace, Joseph discovers that healing rarely comes quickly, but it does come.
Though the narrative is fictional, it is anchored in the lives of real people - Hannah Bayliss, Grace Ann Bayliss, Stanley Ronald Bayliss, and the man named on the stone, J.F. Bayliss - whose grief and endurance shaped the emotional heart of this story. Their suffering was known only to God and time, and this book seeks to honour the truth of that loss while imagining the journey of healing that might have followed.
Set in 19th-century New South Wales and shaped by the author's own heritage connection to Ebenezer Church - Australia's oldest mainland church - this novel blends history, faith, and emotional truth into a story that lingers long after the final page.
Autorentext
Colin Williams has been a Christian since September 1994. Having been brought up in a Christian environment, he threw it all out of the window when he was fifteen years old, and it wasn't until he was nearly thirty that he stopped running from the Lord.
A father of six children now grown, and four grandchildren, Colin is now living on the mid north coast of New South Wales where he now spends his time writing or photographing local beaches and nature.
The one thing in life that he is most grateful for is that God has never let him down. He is living proof that God will never leave us nor forsake us, and Colin has experienced God's hand upon his life even in life's darkest moments. Just prior to giving his life to Jesus his first prayer was, "God, if I do this I want You to make Yourself real to me." This prayer God has honoured over and over again.
For many years Colin Williams has had the desire to write a novel, but it wasn't easy getting his first thoughts down on paper though. Fortunately, a close friend encouraged him and in 2018 he began the first chapter of his professional literary life. Since then, Colin has been working on his second book, The Start of Something Big, which he hopes to have published by mid-2023.