Joining us today is J. M. Hochstetler. J.M. graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Germanic languages. She was an editor with Abingdon Press for twelve years and has published four novels. Daughter of Liberty, Native Son, and Wind of the Spirit, the first three books of the critically acclaimed American Patriot Series, are set during the American Revolution. One Holy Night, a retelling of the Christmas story set in modern times, is the 2009 Christian Small Publishers Fiction Book of the Year and was a finalist in the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year contest.
CM: Welcome J.M. Can you tell us a little about your book?
J.M.: At heart One Holy Night is a modern-day retelling of the nativity story. It’s set in the Minneapolis area during the Vietnam War and tells the story of a family, torn apart by intergenerational conflict, war, and illness, that is brought together again by a baby’s miraculous birth.
CM: Where did you find the inspiration for this story?
J.M.: One Holy Night is the result of a lot of wrestling with the kinds of gritty issues that impact our lives every day. Over the years I’ve pondered how we can make sense of our lives and find purpose, strength, and healing in the midst of a world filled with sin and brokenness. The way I try to make sense of life is to write about it, so eventually my reflections started to find their way into this story about a family in a small town in Minnesota that is faced with these kinds of issues while the son is away, serving in Vietnam.
CM: How long did it take you to bring this book from the first draft to the final published product?
J.M.: Oh, goodness, I worked on it off and on from 1989 to 2007. It started life as a short story, and after stashing it in a file for a long time, I finally decided to turn it into a full-length novel.
CM: Were there any special obstacles or challenges you faced during the publishing process?
J.M.: I began writing in 1977, but I didn’t submit to publishers and agents until the early 1980s. A lot of life happened, and there were times when I couldn’t write, or only sporadically. I finally got a publishing contract in 2002. Then I lost my editor, the new editor wasn’t interested in me and my books, and my agent finally ended up terminating the contract in 2005.
At that point, nobody would look at any of my proposals, and as an author I was at a dead end. It turned out to be a good thing in the long run, however, because it forced me to found my own small press, Sheaf House Publishers, which has been an adventure and a blessing.
CM: Tell us about your main character(s).
J.M.: Frank McRae is the head of the family, a former Marine who’s haunted by the ghosts of his experiences in the South Pacific during WWII. He’s nominally a Christian, but his faith is very shallow and not at the top of his priorities. His wife, Maggie, has been the rock of the family while he built his career. Faith has come easily to her, but now she’s dealing with cancer and struggling to do all the things for her family she always has.
Julie, their oldest child, is a nurse who’s married to Dan Christensen, the pastor of a local church, and they have a 3-year-old daughter, Katie. Julie is fighting to keep her family together, to resolve all the conflicts, and at the same time help her mother through her battle with cancer.
In spite of his doubts about the war, Mike, Frank and Maggie’s son, is serving in Vietnam in order to gain his father’s approval. He’s also drifted far away from faith. When he falls in love with a young Vietnamese woman, who happens to be a Bhuddist, Frank disowns him, refusing to listen to Maggie and Julie’s pleas.
