Sheaf House Releases First Novel Set During Vietnam War

One Holy Night is a deeply moving miracle story that honors American veterans. At heart a modern-day nativity story, it is far more than a tale meant only for Christmas. It deals with the gritty issues that impact lives every day, such as intergenerational and interracial conflict, violence, addictions, war, illness, death, and divorce.

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) April 26, 2008 -- Sheaf House (www.sheafhouse.com), a new publisher based near Nashville, Tennessee, has released a deeply moving inspirational novel by author J. M. Hochstetler.

"J. M. Hochstetler makes another mark on Christian fiction with One Holy Night, a moving and inspirational tale of family, love, war, prejudice, and heart-wrenching loss," says Tamara Leigh, author of Splitting Harriet. "The deeper you journey into this painfully honest tale, the more you'll need a ginormous box of tissues close by. Very recommended!"

Then the Gulf War came along and shaped my thinking some more. Right around 9-11, a young wife and mother in our church was diagnosed with cancer, and then died within a year. Shortly thereafter, my parents both died as the result of a car accident.

One Holy Night is set in 1967, when the military build-up in Vietnam is undergoing a dramatic surge. The resulting explosion of anti-war sentiment tears the country apart, slicing through generations and shattering families. In the quiet bedroom community of Shepherdsville, Minnesota, the war comes home to Frank and Maggie McRae, whose only son, Mike, is a grunt in Vietnam.

Frank despises Asians because of the horrors he witnessed as a Marine while fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific during WWII. So when Mike marries a young Vietnamese woman, Frank ignores the pleas of his wife and their daughter, Julie, and disowns his soldier son.

At the same time Maggie is fighting her own battle against cancer. Frank is convinced that if he joins the church and becomes a model Christian, God will miraculously heal her. But what happens results in a wrenching test of faith for both Frank and Julie.

Raised a Mennonite, Hochstetler has a different perspective on war than most Americans. Although her parents were raised as pacifist Amish, both her father and brother served in the military.

Hochstetler first started tinkering with the idea for One Holy Night back in the late 1980s. "Then the Gulf War came along and shaped my thinking some more. Right around 9-11, a young wife and mother in our church was diagnosed with cancer, and then died within a year. Shortly thereafter, my parents both died as the result of a car accident."

At that time, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were in all the headlines, and opposition was growing along with the casualty count. Commentators began making comparisons with the quagmire of Vietnam--a conflict Hochstetler lived through while in high school and college. "The Civil Rights Movement was also in full swing at that time," she notes.

"All these concerns and questions along with my pacifist upbringing started to find their way into One Holy Night. The more I thought about it, the more I questioned how we can make sense of important issues like war, equal rights, and devastating illnesses and find forgiveness and reconciliation when relationships are terribly broken."

Hochstetler's father served in WWII and her brother in Vietnam. She wrote One Holy Night to honor American service men and women who have sacrificed so much to preserve freedom for future generations. It honors as well those who oppose war for reasons of conscience.

For more information about One Holy Night or for a complimentary copy, contact J. M. Hochstetler or visit www.jmhochstetler.com. Distributed by APG Sales and Distribution (800-327-5113), the book is available through bookstores, online retailers such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Target, and on the Sheaf House Web site (www.sheafhouse.com).

The daughter of Mennonite farmers, J. M. Hochstetler was raised in central Indiana. She was an editor with The United Methodist Publishing House for twelve years. Her previous novels are Daughter of Liberty and Native Son, books 1 and 2 of the American Patriot Series, set during the American Revolution.

The Hochstetlers are well-known for the massacre of three family members on the Pennsylvania frontier in 1757 during the French and Indian War and the captivity and subsequent return of the three survivors. Hochstetler and her cousin, multi-published author Bob Hostetler, are writing a novel based on their ancestors' experiences.

CONTACT:

Joan M. Hochstetler
615-812-6039
www.jmhochstetler.com
www.sheafhouse.com

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