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Prisoner Moon
Over 400,000 German prisoners of war have been brought to America during World War II.
Young Edwin Horst is one of them. Captured in France after D-Day, he finds himself in a Michigan POW camp, threatened by hard-line Nazi prisoners, and gets unexpected help from the Grudens, a local German-American family.
Doris Calloway, escaping her past, has come north from Kentucky to work in the nearby bomber factory. She rooms with the Grudens and falls in love with the troubled oldest son, Hans, back home from fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.
Inside the camp Sam Demsky, as part of a secret government program, tries to teach the prisoners about democracy and ends up involved with the headstrong Gruden daughter, Hildy.
Their lives intertwine inside and outside the barbed wire, with friends and lovers betrayed and reconciled.
PrisonerMoon.com
Facebook.com/PrisonerMoonNovel
Prisoner Moon is John Van Roekel’s second book, succeeding his epic historical novel, Braver Deeds. He lives in sunny San Diego with his wife, Pam.
Young Edwin Horst is one of them. Captured in France after D-Day, he finds himself in a Michigan POW camp, threatened by hard-line Nazi prisoners, and gets unexpected help from the Grudens, a local German-American family.
Doris Calloway, escaping her past, has come north from Kentucky to work in the nearby bomber factory. She rooms with the Grudens and falls in love with the troubled oldest son, Hans, back home from fighting the Japanese in the Pacific.
Inside the camp Sam Demsky, as part of a secret government program, tries to teach the prisoners about democracy and ends up involved with the headstrong Gruden daughter, Hildy.
Their lives intertwine inside and outside the barbed wire, with friends and lovers betrayed and reconciled.
PrisonerMoon.com
Facebook.com/PrisonerMoonNovel
Prisoner Moon is John Van Roekel’s second book, succeeding his epic historical novel, Braver Deeds. He lives in sunny San Diego with his wife, Pam.
- GenresHistorical Fiction
292 pages, Paperback
First published May 29, 2012
About the author
John Van Roekel
3 books3 followersIn 1994 while living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, John Van Roekel finished reading Nathan Miller’s excellent biography Theodore Roosevelt: A Life, and the next morning he told his astonished wife Pam that he was going to write a novel. Miller’s description of the African-American cavalry soldiers who fought beside Roosevelt in Cuba inspired John to write Braver Deeds, published fifteen years later in 2009.
After moving to San Diego in 2001, John started work on his World War II home front novel, Prisoner Moon. It’s the story of a young German soldier who is captured in France after D-Day and finds himself in a POW camp in Michigan. It was published in 2012.
John completed his third historical novel in 2016. Lorenzo’s Assassin is set against the backdrop of the Pazzi Conspiracy when Pope Sixtus IV plotted to murder Lorenzo the Magnificent. Not withstanding the religious themes in Lorenzo’s Assassin, John is not religious.
In addition, John has edited the World War II letters of his father, Paul Van Roekel. They are available on his web site at http://johnvanroekel.com/2016/paul-va....
After a forty year career as a software engineer, John retired in 2012. Much of his life now revolves around his wife, Pam Simpson, as well as writing, hiking and attending classes at SDSU and UCSD. Wanting to keep his hand in as a software engineer, John developed a game for iOS named “Walkers 3D”, which is now on the Apple App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/walke.... Version 2.0 with virtual reality and augmented reality features is under development.
John is a proud member of San Diego Writers, Ink, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting San Diego writers. He urges all writers in the San Diego area to visit http://sandiegowriters.org.
More information about John is available at http://johnvanroekel.com and http://facebook.com/johnvanroekel. John is available for readings and book club discussions in the San Diego area. Please email john@johnvanroekel.com.
After moving to San Diego in 2001, John started work on his World War II home front novel, Prisoner Moon. It’s the story of a young German soldier who is captured in France after D-Day and finds himself in a POW camp in Michigan. It was published in 2012.
John completed his third historical novel in 2016. Lorenzo’s Assassin is set against the backdrop of the Pazzi Conspiracy when Pope Sixtus IV plotted to murder Lorenzo the Magnificent. Not withstanding the religious themes in Lorenzo’s Assassin, John is not religious.
In addition, John has edited the World War II letters of his father, Paul Van Roekel. They are available on his web site at http://johnvanroekel.com/2016/paul-va....
After a forty year career as a software engineer, John retired in 2012. Much of his life now revolves around his wife, Pam Simpson, as well as writing, hiking and attending classes at SDSU and UCSD. Wanting to keep his hand in as a software engineer, John developed a game for iOS named “Walkers 3D”, which is now on the Apple App Store at https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/walke.... Version 2.0 with virtual reality and augmented reality features is under development.
John is a proud member of San Diego Writers, Ink, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting San Diego writers. He urges all writers in the San Diego area to visit http://sandiegowriters.org.
More information about John is available at http://johnvanroekel.com and http://facebook.com/johnvanroekel. John is available for readings and book club discussions in the San Diego area. Please email john@johnvanroekel.com.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 13, 2013
Great mystery. However, perhaps, too many subplots.But I did enjoy the book. Would recommend this book for Historical matter as well as a good mystery.
Displaying 1 of 1 review