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Book two, in the Lockley of Parramatta series. It’s the 1840's and discoveries across the Blue Mountains continue. Major Mitchell's new road is complete, towns, are planned and built. Abundant land is available for those who want it. William “Wills” Lockley, 18, has laid a solid foundation for a respectable career as a blacksmith. But the Lockley lust for adventure flows deeply within his veins. He dreads the monotony of work at the Blacksmiths forge, and yearns for adventure in a new frontier. Wills meets six Englishmen who have the means to make his dreams come true. After he heads west, Wills has to deal with an uncertain romance..
First in the Lockley’s of Parramatta series.
The small town of Parramatta in New South Wales is a rough place in the early 1830s. Convicts and ruffians galore. However, opportunities abound for those who are willing to work for it. Some do, many won’t. The Lockley’s are a family who will! Charles becomes a trusted community member after he helps quell a mutiny on the way out aboard the convict ship. He’s given a 'Ticket of Leave' and becomes the Government Stores Keeper in Parramatta.
Charles grasps the opportunities this colony offers his growing family. His faith gives him strength, his wife Sal, support.
Charlie, his oldest son will take over his Inn.
However, it is Eddie, his second son, who becomes a Blacksmith and an unassuming hero. Eddie used this role to enhance the town.
Unlike in England, the class system is almost gone. There is Convict and Free. There is an opportunity for all if you work for it.
A Love story in more ways than one.
DIAMONDS, LOVE AND MONEY
but there’s much more to life.
Luke, the youngest Lockley son, has completed University, and his life has no direction. No job, no money and no love. Desperately alone, he prays for guidance, and his brother Wills turns up with a suggestion. Reverend William Clarke needs assistance on a Government Mineral Survey. Would Luke be interested in joining the expedition? The challenge, adventure and their finds are life-changing for many. However, it gives Luke meaning, purpose and direction.
How can Luke trust God has a plan for him if he can’t even work out how to get a job? He does the only thing he can… he prays.
Within a week, life has changed... oh how it has changed! The condition of his heart problems also takes a turn. Can he walk away?
With deeply scarred hearts Annie and Sam need answers
Sydney 1790s to England 1830s
Annie White, freed after serving her seven years as a convict in Sydney, gets a visitor who will change her life. She starts a baking business, and just as it’s making a profit, she’s then asked to assist another freed convict, named Sam Corbett. Annie nurses him back to health, and they settle into a life together, barely making ends meet; she realises she’s pregnant.
Sam has his own past laid bare, and he must adjust to the revelations. They both must face their accusers, and they find that the answers to their questions are not what they thought.
Their life experiences seem to cling tightly to them both, unable to shake it; finally, they end up back in England, facing their ghosts and discover they are not who they think they are.
How can they turn their anger and spite into love and forgiveness?
The Dance of Life goes on.
The Earl’s Shadow
Who or what is the ‘shadow’? How does it affect so many?
Parramatta 1860s
Charles is the Earl of Coxheath and spends his youth as a convict in Parramatta; he had no idea he was an Earl. He had minimal education and few social skills. His eldest son, Charlie, is no different.
Now faced with his own mortality, Charles has to work out how to live the remainder of his life after a near-death experience. He is called to step way out of his comfort zone in London. His action will change the world for many. The echoes from the past still haunt Charlie. London is calling the family, and they can’t postpone the trip. How does Jim, the Cobb and Co. coach driver, fit in? And precisely what is ‘The Earl’s Shadow’ that he speaks about? What happens if the ‘Shadow’ is gone?
Once a Jolly Swagman
An old black Billy Can contain the secrets of an incredible life
An Australian Historical Novel
Set in 1870s Parramatta and Kent, UK
Rick Lockley, battling his family’s expectations, runs away to become a swagman.
Jack, a jolly swagman takes him under his care. Even after years together, Rick knows little about the old man.
On his death, Jack leaves Rick his precious Billy Can; the contents reveal Jack’s identity. Stunned, Rick must travel to England to finalise Jack’s wishes. There, he uncovers Jack’s life of love, betrayal and a link to his own family. Rick.
Jonty’s Journey
Gems, Love, Artists and a Golden Lion
Australia and South Africa 1880-1902
Sydney Jeweller, Jonty Evans’ passion for gems takes him to Africa at a volatile time. He finds the diamonds he wants and gets given a lion cub. Jonty gets all but kidnapped. His experiences in the Transvaal plunge him into questioning everything he knows of life. Soon, nightmares haunt him.
On return home, he nearly messes up his love life with Lottie before it even starts, and he struggles to settle. Lottie’s father, Luke Lockley from Parramatta, takes him in hand and points him to someone who can help.
Jonty is then recalled to Africa as a liaison and reconnects with his lion, Chimbu, when he saves the life of his security detail. His life journey introduces him to the most amazing Heidelberg artists, politicians, poets, rebels, and the scapegoat soldier Harry Breaker Morant. Can Jonty bury the past and regain the peace he’s lost?
Amelia’s Tears
Parramatta 1828 – England 1840s
In the Parramatta Female Prison, Amelia awaits her assignment. Forced to leave the relative safety of gaol, she is assigned and now faces her worst nightmare. A foul man claims her and makes her life a living hell. Then, her world goes black. A glimmer of hope arises when she hears from her brother, Jim, who has enlisted a friend to help her. She writes to Jim, pouring out her heart and telling him of the horrors of her new life. He encourages her to stay firm in her faith. All she can do is pray. When Major Ned Grace, her brother’s friend, enters her life in Parramatta, he starts to ease her path. Things have changed, as now she has a child in tow. How can Amelia forge a new life for herself? What man could want her with her background and a child at her side? Who is the gentleman who turns her tears of sadness into tears of great joy?
A Lady in Irons
England 1800s - Parramatta 1808+
Katy is mourning the death of her husband after he died in a shooting accident. Barely coping, she awaits the birth of their child. If it’s a girl, she must hand the family home to her husband’s brother. The day after giving birth to a daughter, she and her daughter are left on the side of a road. She collapses and is found by someone she thought had died in a fire ten years before. Perry, badly scarred himself, nurses her back to health. They marry and move in with her widowed friend, Mary.
After some years, she discovers her husband and friend in each other’s arms. Now living in a love triangle, she flees. Grasping the only straw available, she intentionally gets arrested and is sent to a colony far away. By doing this, her marriage can be annulled.
What happens in the Colony is different from what she expects. Governor Macquarie comes to her rescue.
But what of Perry and her children?
Unlikely Convict Ladies
No More, My Love
Hunter Valley, NSW 1820s
Jess Elkin is distraught when tragedy ravages her family. She becomes the victim of a carriage accident and is nursed back to health by the driver, Marcus Ryan. Marcus was not expecting to fall in love. Yet, when Jess's fortunes suddenly turn for the worse, Marcus must decide how far he will go to pursue her. As time passes in Newcastle, Australia, Marcus must take a business trip and is taken by pirates. Jess is left wondering if her will keep his promise to return to her… Will she ever see him alive again?
The Vine Weaver
Hawkesbury River area 1820s+
New Beginnings and Old Threats
In the 1820s, Australia, Joel and Hetty Walker live on a secluded farm on the Hawkesbury River, which becomes a healing haven for the protection of young convict women.
A series of events brings Fran Rea to the attention of Hetty, and she is taken to the farm. Fran and Hetty develop a cottage industry under the compassionate eye of farmhand Hector Macdougal; Hector’s loving words change lives. It is to him that Fran turns when threatened.
The vines now must draw them close to survive the future revelations, and of those, there are many.
The story continues in Scotch at The Rocks
Waiting at the Sliprails
The Bathurst Road 1830s
A Convict’s Tale
Bea Dawes’s term of conviction nears an end, and she has few options other than marriage to a stranger or going on the street.
Jack Barnes, the hired drover, wants a wife. Bea accepts his offer; then, she discovers that he could be gone for months, leaving her alone with Billy and Netty, part of the tribe of Aborigines who live on his secluded farm. Bea learns to love her husband and also this wonderful aboriginal couple.
Drought ravages the farm, and Jack must hit the long paddock with the flock. In his absence, a visitor arrives, threatening to destroy everything she has worked so hard for. Can Bea touch her heart? Can she cope? Will the drought ever end? And when will Jack return?