Lost To Two Worlds J — Michael Bailey

LOST TO TWO WORLDS is a sad reflection of our times when evil men do evil things yet flourish without misgivings, while good men can anguish a lifetime from childhood trauma that permanently defines them. The story unfolds over two centuries on three continents. It focuses on the lives of two men whose characters are diametrically opposed: Benjamin Boyd, a Scotsman and a real-life, historic pioneer who arrives in Australia in 1842, and a fictional character named Daniel Hannaford, a mining engineer born in Australia in 1953. A man with few redeeming qualities, Boyd stops at nothing, including murder and a form of slavery known as blackbirding, all to satiate his excessive personal needs and a driving ambition to restore his family's fortunes.173 years later, Daniel Hannaford accepts an engineering contract on the small island of Lucaya in the Caribbean. Disturbed by a tormented past and an irresolute personality, Daniel meets Brianna, a Jamaican bartender at an island government party. That same evening, both are witness to a brutal attack on a woman, encouraged by the island's premier and perpetrated by the son of an influential British Lord and billionaire. Separated by almost two hundred years, the two stories, narrated in juxtaposition, illustrate the good and evil of two very different men, one driven by greed and ambition and the other tormented by his past and the guilt of loving two women.