In the Beginning
The strata meeting where two strangers recognised each other instantly.
A memoir by Stephen Agnew
Some goodbyes are only beginnings.
The true story of Jacqueline, a wife lost too soon at 58, and the signs, synchronicities and afterlife connection that followed.
Out nowAvailable on Amazon
Love can touch you once and last for a lifetime.
The essence
She didn't leave. She changed form.
Since Jacqueline's passing, Stephen has documented feathers that appear at the right moment, songs that play on cue, and messages relayed through mediums — moments that convinced him love survives the transition into the afterlife.
01
Love
A connection that outlived her body.
02
Signs
Coincidences too precise to dismiss.
03
Acceptance
Learning to grieve without letting go.
MemoirFinding loved ones in the afterlife
The book
How do you keep loving someone you can't see?
Jacqueline was 58, healthy, and by every measure not supposed to go yet. Her death left Stephen searching for an explanation science couldn't give him, and led him toward something else entirely.
- A memoir from both sides of goodbye — their first hello, the night she passed, and everything after.
- Years of signs and synchronicities that Stephen came to see as proof her love hadn't ended.
- Messages relayed through mediums and what Stephen now believes about death itself.
Inside the journey
From their first hello to her new home.
Chapter by chapter, Jacqueline traces Stephen and Jacqui's life together, the night she passed, and everything he has experienced since.
Buy nowSynchronicity
The patterns and coincidences that started long before Jacqueline passed.
The Ascension
Being present at the exact moment Jacqueline crossed over.
The Service
A funeral that felt like something more than a goodbye.
Finding Peace & Acceptance
Grieving Jacqueline while learning to believe she was still near.
Life and Death
What Stephen now believes happens when we finally let go.
AuthorStephen Agnew
About the author
More about Stephen
A builder who became a believer.
Stephen Agnew spent 35 years building homes and communities before turning to write about the one he couldn't build for: life after Jacqueline. He is a father of four, a grandfather of eleven, and still gets in the water with his three sons whenever he can.
A 1977 building graduate from UTS, Stephen ran his own construction and development company for over three decades before retiring to Broken Head, the coastal home he shared with Jacqueline and still calls his sanctuary today.
35Years as a builder
4Children
11Grandchildren
Death is just a moment.— Stephen Agnew
A passage from the book
“I knew you before I met you.”
Jacqueline and I had never met before. She was chairing a strata meeting for a retirement village I had built at Byron Bay in 2002. She came into the room with one of her colleagues, and I knew instantly that here was a woman who took charge.
When we finished the meeting, I went up to the podium and sat next to her. We both looked at each other and felt the same thing: ‘Oh, it’s you.’
We met for coffee and discovered we loved the same things, particularly animals. I couldn’t wait to see her again. The next day, I met her outside her workplace and kissed her for the first time — her eyes widened, and she didn’t say a word. No words were needed, she just smiled.
I had just kissed an angel.
Keep reading
From the blog
All articles
Reflections from beyond goodbye.
Signs From Loved Ones: Feathers, Songs and Synchronicity
Signs from loved ones are rarely dramatic: a feather, a song, a message through a medium. Stephen Agnew on learning to notice them after losing Jacqueline.
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How I Met Jacqueline: A Strata Meeting at Byron Bay
Stephen Agnew on how he met Jacqueline at a strata meeting in Byron Bay in 2002, a moment he says felt like recognising someone he had always known.
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Why I Wrote Jacqueline: The Power of Love
Stephen Agnew explains why he wrote Jacqueline: The Power of Love, his memoir about losing his wife at 58 and the signs that she is still close.
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