THE FAITHFUL ONES: A Novel
Winner of the 2026 IndieReader Discovery Awards in Literary Fiction
What’s the book’s first line?
“Ed craned his neck.”
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Hacksaw Ridge meets One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in this true, family-inspired World War II story of an Army recruit whose pacifist conscience costs him his freedom and his sister’s childhood. Trapped inside a horrifying mental asylum riddled with corruption and abuse, Edward teams up with heroic Quaker and Mennonite conscientious objectors employed as hospital attendants to battle and expose institutional injustice. While Edward struggles for justice with his mind and humanity intact a world away, his bereft and faithful young sister Mary grows up, determined to unravel the cryptic circumstances of her beloved brother’s tragic fate and restore his honor. In her decades-long journey, she discovers the wages of family secrecy and the nation’s shame.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
My aunt, Mary Holhlfeld Joyce, inspired this book, which is based on her experience as a little girl.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
This story of institutional wrongdoing is instigated by a sister’s lifelong vow to bring justice to her Army-recruit brother (protagonist) whose pacifism lands him, bizarrely, in a notorious mental asylum. It captures a largely untold aspect of World War II Homefront history concerning institutional corruption and abuse and the unsung heroes–conscientious objectors laboring as hospital attendants–who, together with the protagonist, labor to bring a measure of humanity to their work and rectify the abuse.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
The protagonist’s unrelenting commitment to his principles–leading to unintended life-altering consequences–is the most distinctive thing about him. He is not monomaniacal like Ahab, but he has traces of him in his unbending will. His refusal to obey an order that troubled his conscience is akin to real-life football player Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem. Done in good faith, his action led to his being blackballed from the sport he loved.
When did you first decide to become an author?
I don’t think it’s something I decided as such. I think it unfolded naturally, organically, after years of teaching and reading literature and then finding that I, too, had a story I though worth telling.
Is this the first book that you’ve written?
No, it is the second book I’ve written. The first was a memoir based on my four years in a Roman Catholic convent in my youth.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I am a retired professionally who still teaches and is asked to give lectures.
How much time do you generally spend on your writing?
It varies. Some days I spend hours in front of my computer. Other days, I don’t write at all, or I dabble in other types of writing, such as book reviews.
What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
Not having the backing of an industry dedicated to supporting the writer and her work and being expected to do things for which I am not trained and in which I am not skilled, such as marketing and social media outreach.
What’s a great piece of advice that you can share with fellow indie authors?
Find joy in the writing and try not to get discouraged by rejection and other challenges that go with the aim of being a published writer.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Of course, because it would provide me and my work with more industry credentials and support.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
Neither. I am motivated by the desire to shape and tell a good, human-centered story.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Barbara Kingsolver, Colum McCann, George Saunders
Which book do you wish you could have written?
Mrs. Dalloway