Young Novelist Honors Veterans with Printed Memorial

For Immediate Release

Available for Interview

Hear the true stories behind the novels. April 25th is National Holocaust Remembrance Day. May 8th is the 61st anniversary of the end of WWII in Europe. May 29th is Memorial Day. September 2nd is the anniversary of the end of the war with Japan. In honor of these dates you might fly an American flag or attend a Memorial Day ceremony, but Tricia Goyer, a 34-year-old writer from Montana, has shown honor to veterans by offering the gift of story—their own stories in the pages of her three novels.

The novels, published by Moody Publishing, have all been meticulously researched. Goyer’s first novel, From Dust and Ashes, was inspired when visiting Austria in October, 2000. “A historian in Upper Austria told me about twenty-three American GIs who came upon a concentration camp they didn’t even know existed. They liberated over 25,000 camp prisoners,” Goyer says. Most interestingly was that these men were aided by the wife of an SS officer.

Night Song, Goyer’s second book is also about the conflict in Europe, but this time the story centers around the orchestra started by prisoners in Hitler’s Mauthausen death camp. Night Song recently was awarded Book of the Year from the American Christian Fiction Writers association. Her third book, Dawn of a Thousand Nights, published last fall, tells the story of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and the Women’s Air Force Service Pilot program (WASP). Goyer has a fourth novel that will hit store shelves July 2005. Arms of Deliverance is the story of Mary Kelley and Lee O'Donnelly, two female war correspondents sent to Europe in search of headline news. But both Mary and Lee soon realize that news-breaking stories pale in comparison to war-torn people, and their lives, their hearts, are transformed by their experiences during the war. Goyer is currently under contract to write three novels about the Spanish Civil War.

All of her books have been inspired by actual true life stories. While Goyer’s own grandfather served in WWII, she never had the chance to talk to him about his own experiences before he passed away in 1999. That’s why Goyer is so determined to keep listening and to keep writing the stories she hears from aged veterans. She believes fiction is the best way to connect with readers in her own generation, many of whom have thanked her for bringing dry, historical facts to life. “It helps these men to know that their experiences will not be forgotten by younger generations,” Goyer says. “With 1,200 WWII veterans dying each day in our nation, there are an equal number of stories that will never be heard. But for these few heroes, this is my gift—a memorial of words to show them that what they did will be remembered.”

Goyer has also recently launched a website, Unforgettable Stories of World War II, which shares the stories that extend beyond the research for her novels. She hopes the stories of these brave men will be turned into a published anthology.

Goyer is available for interview and loves to share the heart-warming and inspiring “true stories” behind her novel. For scheduling please contact Amy at 406-270-1858 or amy@bighoof.com.