Drawn into the savage clashes of the French and Indian War, Jakob Hochstetler faces an impossible choice . . . and the irreversible consequences

 

Northkill

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In 1738 Jakob Hochstetler and his family sought sanctuary in America from the religious persecution Anabaptists were suffering in Europe. With other members of their Amish church they settled along Northkill Creek at the base of the Blue Mountain on the untamed Pennsylvania frontier, between French-controlled Indian territory and the British settlements. Eighteen years later the French began to incite the tribes to attack English settlers moving into lands claimed by France, and a bloody war ensued. 

 

Early on the morning of September 20, 1757, the Hochstetler family’s way of life is brutally shattered when their home is attacked by a party of Delaware and Shawnee warriors. Facing certain death with his wife and children, Jakob makes a wrenching choice that will tear apart his family and change all their lives forever.

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The Return

 

Carried away from the ruins of their plantation with his younger sons, Jakob is enslaved by the Seneca, while Joseph and Christian are adopted into different Lenape divisions and struggle to adapt to new lives. Meanwhile, Jakob plots a perilous escape in spite of overwhelming odds against succeeding. Yet even if he can get away, could he survive a harrowing journey over the hundreds of miles of rugged terrain that lie between him and his Northkill community?

 

Does home still exist? Are his older son and daughter, Johannes and Barbara, still alive? Will he ever find his boys and bring them home?

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