Peace, Now

About the Book

Peace, Now by Remy Benoit

Jesse Irons and Mellie Gratton, like so many others, were walking casualties of a war 13,000 miles from home.

           Like the other men who were sent to Vietnam, Jesse was unprepared for what he faced in country, and unprepared for being, so quickly,  back in the world.

In the spring of 1973, as US combat troops are leaving Vietnam, Jesse is trying to establish some normalcy in his life while he finishes his hitch as an Army Officer stationed State side.

Having noticed Mellie in night school graduate classes, Jesse arranges to meet her.

When the two meet the fire between them begins to burn.  But deep inside Jesse also burns the torment of memories of his experiences as a man in charge of other men in the hot, humid, horror of the boonies:  the horror we inflict on our men when we place them in situations where they must do things to stay alive that go against all we have raised them to be.

Peace, Now is their story:  the story of their turbulent relationship begun, but never quite ended, in the spring and summer of  1973.

 Their story is the tale of how he pulls her to him and pushes her away at the same time, haunted by the memories of so many who were close to him and their ultimate fate.

Jesse leaves Mellie, traveling the world for years, looking for himself, looking for peace.

He develops his talents as a photographer and chronicler of  restorations of historic sites and buildings; marries, fathers two daughters, divorces, and keep looking for peace.

Mellie goes on to become Dr. Melanie Gratton, a respected Medievalist, wife of another man, mother of three children, divorcee.

Twenty-six years later, Mellie accepts a grant to restore the Schloss Geisttod, outside of Augsburg, Germany.

Wanting to have the best historic journalistic coverage of the restoration, still wanting Jesse, Mellie contacts him, the top man in the field.

Within the cold halls of the Schloss, the remnants of the savage cruelty of the Baron Geisttod to his French bride, Brianna, echo off the walls.  The story of  his deliberately inflicted cruelty is juxtaposed against the turbulence in Jesse's heart that came from situations he was forced into Vietnam.

When Jesse and Mellie come together again, what has lain softly kindling through the years, erupts into a consuming fire between them aided by the specter of the Lady Brianna who was burned at the stake for witchcraft in the late 1200's.

But, Mellie must tell  Jesse of a decision she made so many years ago:  a decision that could bring them closer together than they ever were, or tear them apart, forever.

Peace, Now is the story of how, against all odds, the power of love can heal, reconcile, and bring new life.

About the Author

Remy Benoit holds degrees in history from the Pennsylvania State University and from West Chester University. She taught her subject for many years and then began home schooling her own children and writing historical fiction while working independently with teenagers and Veterans of the Vietnam War. It is her feeling that in the hands of today's young people there is an unprecedented opportunity for paving the way to global peace and understanding. In working together with Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder she would like to open a national dialogue for understanding, coming together, and healing. She resides in Louisiana with her daughter and son, a Lhasa Apso named Gypsy and a cat called Norman. She has written three other books: Letty, Pastiche, and Peace, Now. She will be teaching a seminar using history for writing and healing at mystic-ink.com