About the Book
Book: Faces in the Window
Authors: Andrew Busch and Melinda Busch
Genre: Christian Historical Fiction
Release Date: October, 2022
Franz Maedler, an officer in the Wehrmacht, loses a leg in Stalingrad and is evacuated just before it becomes impossible to do so. He returns to a desk job with the Army General Staff in Berlin but is deeply conflicted. His father is committed to the Nazi cause, as seems to be his brother Friedrich. Yet his girlfriend Katrin is a devout Christian, as was his now-deceased mother, and his conscience is haunted by things he was a part of on the Eastern Front. He wants to marry Katrin, but she will not agree until he decides who he is and who he follows. Then, unexpectedly, a moment of crisis forces Franz to choose. Will he side with the cross or with the swastika? And what will it cost him?
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About the Authors
Andrew and Melinda Busch were both born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, and were introduced in 1994 by their junior high school math teacher. They married in 1995 and have three grown children. They now live in Rialto, California.
Andrew teaches American government at Claremont McKenna College in southern California. He has authored or co-authored about two dozen books on American politics, government, and public policy. He received his Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia. Melinda is a freelance author who has published numerous short stories and children’s books. She received her Master’s degree in education from Concordia University-Portland. Faces in the Window is their first co-authored book.
More from Andrew and Melinda
We came up with the idea for our book after a trip to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. in 2006, but didn’t start writing it until late 2019. The COVID lock-down gave us a lot of time at home to work on it.
Writing together was fun. Sometimes one of us would draft a section and the other one would revise it and then we would go back and forth until we were satisfied with it. Other times, when there was important dialogue, we would each pick a character, go onto Google Docs, and have the conversation in real time. We had to be sharp, since our characters often found themselves in a tight spot. Though we planned out the story, sometimes the conversations took on a life of their own, and things went in a different direction.
One of us is a poet and an author of children’s books, fantasy stories, and fan fiction, while the other is a professor who has written extensively about American government but has never before dipped his toe into the vasty depths of fiction. Together, we had a great time!
Interview with the Author
- What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?
It’s easier to tell you about the literary pilgrimage we meant to go on. We were going to travel to Germany the summer of 2020 to research our novel. But then COVID happened, and our trip did not. Instead, we had to content ourselves with a virtual pilgrimage, studying locations using Google Earth and old maps. (Melinda)
- How do you select the names of your characters?
In Faces in the Window, some of our characters are named for people we know and love. We generally only name the good guys that way, though. My husband also looked through indices of his non-fiction WW2 texts and chose names from that, mixing and matching them. (Melinda)
What Melinda said. Also, we give some of the characters nicknames—in fact, some of them only have nicknames—that are derived from one or another of their characteristics.
- What is your favorite childhood book?
Oh, this is a hard one. I have several old favorites. Anne of Green Gables taught me about kindred spirits. The Hobbit simply enchanted me and, along with The Lord of the Rings, it taught me to cheer for the unlikely hero. The Chronicles of Narnia gave me that sense of deep yearning Joy C.S. Lewis referred to as Sehnsucht in his book Surprised by Joy. (Melinda)
The leatherbound Time-Life series on the Old West; The Conspirators: July 20, 1944; Charlotte’s Web. I was always partial to history. (Andrew)
- What comes first, the plot or characters?
My husband may disagree on this one, but I think the characters come first. I have to get to know them before I can write about them. The plot should be driven by the character’s development and change over time. (Melinda)
For me, it is an interactive process. In this book, we started with a few characters and a very rough plot, then we planned a plot in more detail. But as the plot advanced, new characters emerged and the original characters developed.
- Who is the author you most admire in your genre?
I write in several genres, so I’ll share more than one author. Historical Fiction: currently, I think Sarah Sundin. She crafts amazing fiction with characters that come to feel like friends. Speculative Fiction: C.S. Lewis and Tolkien are on equal footing here for me. I love them both for different reasons. Lewis had a way of making difficult concepts seem simple; Tolkien wrote beautiful prose and knew how to kindle hope and longing and joy in his readers. Poetry: Currently, Malcolm Guite. (Melinda)
This will sound horrible, because it is. I don’t really read much historical fiction. I read a lot of political history and current political news and analysis for my job. By the time I finish my day job and then do research for our novels, I am ready to watch TV, work on my model railroad, or take a nap. (Andrew)
Thank you for letting us get to know you better!
Blog Stops
Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, January 17 (Author Interview)
Bizwings Book Blog, January 18
Artistic Nobody, January 19 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, January 19
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 20
Splashes of Joy, January 21 (Author Interview)
Betti Mace, January 22
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, January 23 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, January 24
Guild Master, January 25 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, January 26
Sylvan Musings, January 27 (Author Interview)
Connie’s History Classroom, January 27
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, January 28
A Modern Day Fairy Tale, January 29 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 30
Giveaway
To celebrate their tour, Andrew and Melinda is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a signed copy of the book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/297c8/faces-in-the-window-celebration-tour-giveaway