D. Thomas Gochenour’s Newly Released "Jacob’s Woes" is a Riveting Historical Novel of Faith and Perseverance

Herndon, VA, August 12, 2025 --(PR.com)-- “Jacob’s Woes: Or the Tribulations of an Anabaptist 1620-1675”: a historical epic that brings to life the struggles of the early Anabaptists. “Jacob’s Woes: Or the Tribulations of an Anabaptist 1620-1675” is the creation of published author, D. Thomas Gochenour, a deracinated eighth-generation Virginian. He is also the thirteenth-generation Gochenour whose ancestor Jacob Gochnauer, an early leader of the Swiss Brethren of the Zurich highlands, is the subject of this fictional biography, Jacob’s Woes. He has spent most of his adult life overseas, having lived and worked in France, Yemen, England, Kuwait, and Russia.

He has mostly worked as a financial advisor to the oil industry and to investment banks. He was born with the noise of the Korean War in the background (his father was away fighting in that war at that moment), and in all the foreign places he has lived, war has followed him.

He has a PhD in medieval Islamic history with a concentration on Yemen and Shi’ism. Besides his doctoral thesis, he has edited and published his grandfather’s memoirs and published two novellas, both satires. In addition, he has written eight novels and a collection of short stories. He now splits his time between homes in Moscow and in Northern Virginia. He has been a lifelong fan of soccer football and classical music, both of which he practiced in his youth.

Gochenour shares, “It is spring 1620 in Zurich, and the entire German world is in turmoil. War between the Catholic Hapsburgs, the traditional enemy of the Swiss, and the German Protestant states is about to break out. The young man Joggli (Jacob) is in town to pay family taxes in kind. He is fascinated by the appeal of a recruiter, and he signs up to go off to protect the newly crowned Protestant king in Prague. His trip, which ends in ignominious defeat at the battle of White Mountain in early winter, nearly costs him his life. And when he finally is one of the very few to make it back home, his family denounces him as a sinner for giving an oath to a sovereign power.

“To win salvation, Joggli must repent, study the Scriptures, and get adult baptism to enter into the faith. But the reformed church in Zurich condemns him as a heretic Anabaptist and calls him to recant and threatens him with imprisonment, expulsion, or even execution unless he repents. Joggli keeps to his faith and even preaches it among his neighbors. He is thrown into prison, and his children are taken from him and distributed to reformed families. And he, with other Brethren, languish and suffer for several years in a dank, unheated prison in Zurich, constantly threatened with death and hunger. His faith holds firm and enables him to survive, until finally, the Zurich authorities expel all the Swiss Brethren from the canton. Released and able to collect his family, he begins his second large trip, this time leading a large collective of the Brethren out of Switzerland and into permanent exile in Alsace, a land desolated by the Thirty Years’ War. Through prayer and study, they persevere and multiply and give thanks to Jesus, their Savior.”

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, D. Thomas Gochenour’s new book is a story of courage, resilience, and unyielding faith in the face of relentless adversity, shedding light on the strength of the human spirit.

Consumers can purchase “Jacob’s Woes: Or the Tribulations of an Anabaptist 1620-1675” at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about “Jacob’s Woes: Or the Tribulations of an Anabaptist 1620-1675,” contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.