One Holy Night is a heartwarming story of forgiveness. But this is the gritty kind of forgiveness—the kind that must first endure the deepest despair imaginable. In 1967, Frank McRae still nurses bitter hatred toward all Asians after witnessing unspeakable atrocities on the battlefields of the South Pacific during World War II. When Frank’s only son, Mike, falls in love with a young Vietnamese girl while fighting in the war there, then marries her, Frank disowns his soldier son.
On the home front Frank bargains with a God he hardly knows in a desperate attempt to keep his wife, Maggie, from dying from cancer. With his family torn apart, Frank comes face to face with the ugliness of his hatred in an unforgettable moment of truth. What happens next is one of the most touching scenes I’ve ever read in a novel.
Hochstetler weaves this story through the Viet Nam era, embracing the genuine, raw emotions of that tumultuous era of our history. This is a very different kind of Christmas story and one that stayed with me long after I reached the end.
—Diane Moody, author and columnist
One Holy Night is powerful yet gentle in both its method and message. Set in the 1960s amidst the divisiveness of an unpopular war, a family’s very faith and foundations are tested as memories and cultures collide. Hochstetler’s “lighting the past . . . and leading you home” signature couldn’t be more appropriate than in this sacred tale of hope rising sweetly from the ashes of sorrow. . . .
—Kathi Macias, award-winning author
Provocative and insightful, One Holy Night shows in rich detail how God can use the most trying circumstances to bring people around until they see how much they need each other, and need Him. This life-changing story will move you to tears as you experience the humility of a young Vietnamese woman, her husband's desire to see his father heal, and the trials that bring them together in one desperate attempt to save another’s life.
—Michelle Sutton, author and book reviewer
Author J. M. Hochstetler depicts a family in crisis during the Vietnam years. Tenderly written and poignant, One Holy Night is relevant to our lives today. The ending moved me to tears.
—Kacy Barnett-Gramckow, author
