Ashes and Dawn: Love, Loss and Survival in the Shadow of War

Some people spend their whole lives searching for a place to call home. Bryn Williams discovered that home isn't a place at all.

From the coal mines of Wales to the deserts of Egypt, Bryn carried a quiet need to belong somewhere to someone. He witnessed the cruelty of empire and the darkness people inflict on each other, yet he refused to let that darkness take root in him. Even as a young soldier, he chose integrity over convenience, kindness over indifference, believing somehow that acting with decency mattered even when the world around him didn't.

Pursuing a life of service as a Health Inspector in Hong Kong, he finally found what he'd been searching for. Alicia wasn't just beautiful. She was fierce, determined, and strong in ways that complemented his gentleness. She saw him, and together they built something Bryn had never known before: a family, a purpose, a life worth fighting for.

Then the Japanese invaded in December 1941. Imprisoned in Stanley Camp with thousands of others, Bryn, Alicia, and their two children faced nearly four years of starvation, disease, and brutality. When Alicia gave birth to their son while desperately ill with diphtheria, and with Bryn at her side, she refused to let herself and her newborn son die, even though survival defied every probability.

Based on a true story, Ashes and Dawn is about the triumph of the human spirit, love overcoming despair, resilience overcoming defeat, and family triumphing over everything that tries to tear it apart. It speaks to something unbreakable in us, that stubborn ember that refuses to go dark even when darkness is all we can see. It's a story of a journey to find meaning and purpose in life, fueled by courage and hope that a new dawn can rise from the ashes.