In this vivid retelling of the founding of the United States, the actual historical events, including the real British and colonial leaders who provided the catalyst for them, and breathtaking moment-by-moment recreations of the pivotal battles converge with two compelling characters in a suspense-filled story of espionage, intrigue, and romance. On the ruins of war and loss, Elizabeth Howard and Jonathan Carleton build an enduring legacy of love, hope, faith—and freedom—at the “crossroads of humanity.”
A beautiful rebel spy and a jaded British officer fight a war of wits and words . . . and a love that will not be denied.Christianbook.comAmazon
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Caught between two worlds at war, he could lose everything—his country, his faith, and the woman who holds his heart captive.
As the patriot cause falters, can her love bridge the miles between them—and the savage bonds that threaten to tear him forever from her arms?Forthcoming Volumes
Crucible of War (September 2012)
Valley of the Shadow (Spring 2014)
Refiner’s Fire (Spring 2015)
Forge of Freedom (Spring 2017)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joan M. Shoup, writing as J. M. Hochstetler, writes stories that always involve some element of the past and of finding home. Born in central Indiana, the daughter of Mennonite farmers, Joan grew up in the Amish and Mennonite community outside Kokomo and graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Germanic languages. Her life’s ambition was to marry a nice Mennonite farmer, settle down to raise babies and crops, and become an artist.As we all know, life has a way of throwing curve balls . . .Instead, while raising three daughters, she discovered writing after an intriguing dream that begged to be developed into a novel. Several new stories followed, all gathering a collection of rejection slips. Years later she moved from Indiana to Tennessee and eventually became an editor with Abingdon Press, where she worked for twelve years before founding her own small press, Sheaf House Publishers.Joan is the author of the critically acclaimed American Patriot Series. The first three volumes, Daughter of Liberty, Native Son, and Wind of the Spirit are currently available, with four more volumes planned in the series. Joan is also the author of One Holy Night, a retelling of the Christmas story set in modern times. One Holy Nightwas the 2009 Christian Small Publishers Fiction Book of the Year and a finalist for the 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year.Joan is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Christian Authors Network, Middle Tennessee Christian Writers, and Historical Novels Society. She loves to garden, scrapbook, travel, spend time with her grandchildren, and most of all read good stories and write. She and her husband, a retired pastor with the United Methodist Church, enjoy camping in their fifth-wheel trailer. They live near Nashville, Tennessee. SELLING POINTS
The only comprehensive historical fiction series on America’s founding, the American Patriot Series sweeps readers into a tumultuous world of revolution. Beginning in April 1775, Daughter of Liberty and its sequels, Native Son and Wind of the Spirit, set in motion the thrilling saga that will follow Elizabeth Howard and Jonathan Carleton as they face the devastation and triumphs of war—from the American colonists’ first armed confrontation with the British to the spreading inferno along the frontiers of Indian territory, through the battles raging in the Middle and Southern colonies and on the high seas, and at last to the final, decisive assault at Yorktown.
Pat Bertram is a native of Colorado and a life-long resident (though she has had a couple of brief stays in other states). Bertram writes genre-bending novels that aren’t easily categorized. Second Wind 
