BIOGRAPHY
John A. Heldt is the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage, American Journey, and Carson Chronicles series. The former reference librarian and award-winning sportswriter has loved getting subjects and verbs to agree since writing book reports on baseball heroes in grade school. A graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Iowa, Heldt is an avid fisherman, sports fan, home brewer, and reader of thrillers and historical fiction. When not sending contemporary characters to the not-so-distant past, he weighs in on literature and life at johnheldt.blogspot.com.
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BOOKS
Northwest Passage: The First Three Novels
In John A. Heldt’s celebrated Northwest Passage series, an abandoned mine, a haunted house, and a theater restroom are not just curiosities. They are portals to the past. Step into each portal and see the twentieth century through twenty-first century eyes. In The Mine, a cavalier college senior explores a dusty adit in 2000 and emerges in 1941 as a world war approaches. In The Journey, a recent widow tries to reconnect with her past at her thirtieth reunion and finds herself in 1979 and her senior year of high school. In The Show, a jilted young woman from 1941 seeks answers in 2000 but finds them in 1918, the time of her parents’ courtship. Trapped in the corridors of time, three resourceful individuals, victims of fate and circumstance, find romance and redemption in the not-so-distant past.
In May 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can’t use, money he can’t spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of swing dancing and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. The Mine is a love story that follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.
The Journey: Northwest Passage 2
Seattle, 2010. When her entrepreneur husband dies in an accident, Michelle Preston Richardson, 48, finds herself childless and directionless. She yearns for the simpler days of her youth, before she followed her high school sweetheart down a road that led to limitless riches but little fulfillment, and jumps at a chance to reconnect with her past at a class reunion. But when Michelle returns to Unionville, Oregon, and joins three classmates on a spur-of-the-moment tour of an abandoned mansion, she gets more than she asked for. She enters a mysterious room and is thrown back to 1979. Distraught and destitute, Michelle finds a job as a secretary at Unionville High, where she guides her spirited younger self, Shelly Preston, and childhood friends through their tumultuous senior year. Along the way, she meets widowed teacher Robert Land and finds the love and happiness she had always sought. But that happiness is threatened when history intervenes and Michelle must act quickly to save those she loves from deadly fates. Filled with humor and heartbreak, The Journey gives new meaning to friendship, courage, and commitment as it follows an unfulfilled soul through her second shot at life.
Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In The Show, the sequel to The Mine, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.
When Kevin Johnson, 22, goes to Wallace, Idaho, days after his college graduation, he expects to find rest and relaxation as his family prepares his deceased grandfather’s house for sale. Then he discovers a hidden diary and a time portal that can take him to 1910, the year of Halley’s comet and the largest wildfire in U.S. history. Within hours, Kevin finds himself in the era of horse-drawn wagons, straw hats, and ankle-length dresses. Traveling repeatedly to the same time and place, he decides to make the portal his gateway to summer fun. The adventure takes a more serious turn, however, when the luckless-in-love science major falls for pretty English teacher Sarah Thompson and integrates himself in a community headed for disaster. Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, The Fire, the sequel to The Journey, follows a conflicted soul through a life-changing journey as he makes his mark on a world he was never meant to see.
The Mirror: Northwest Passage 5
On September 11, 2020, Ginny and Katie Smith celebrate their nineteenth birthday at a country fair near Seattle. Ignoring the warnings of a fortune-teller, they enter a house of mirrors and exit in May 1964. Armed with the knowledge they need to return to their time, they try to make the most of what they believe will be a four-month vacation. But their sixties adventure becomes complicated when they meet a revered great-grandmother and fall in love with local boys. In The Mirror, the continuation of The Mine and The Show, the sisters find happiness and heartbreak as they confront unexpected challenges and gut-wrenching choices in the age of civil rights, the Beatles, and Vietnam.
American Journey: The First Three Novels
Meet a mysterious professor, step into a hidden chamber, and take the time-travel plunge! The opportunity awaits in the first three novels of John A. Heldt’s celebrated American Journey series. In September Sky, a reporter and his estranged son find southern belles, lawlessness, and danger as they travel to Galveston, Texas, on the eve of its devastating 1900 hurricane. In Mercer Street, a family of Chicago women, representing three generations, takes a sentimental journey to Princeton, New Jersey, in the turbulent months before World War II. In Indiana Belle, a lonely doctoral student follows a trail to the Roaring Twenties, where a beautiful society editor, a cold-blooded killer, and a century-old mystery await. Filled with history, romance, and adventure, the American Journey series takes readers on a ride through the most memorable eras of the 20th century.
September Sky: American Journey 1
When unemployed San Francisco reporter Chuck Townsend and his college-dropout son, Justin, take a cruise to Mexico in 2016, each hopes to rebuild a relationship after years of estrangement. But they find more than common ground aboard the ship. They meet a mysterious lecturer touting the possibilities of time travel. Within days, Chuck and Justin find themselves in 1900, riding a train to Texas, intent on preventing a distant uncle from being hanged for a crime he did not commit. Their quick trip to Galveston, however, becomes long and complicated when they wrangle with business rivals and fall for two beautiful librarians on the eve of a hurricane that will destroy the city. Filled with humor, history, romance, and heartbreak, September Sky follows two directionless souls on the adventure of a lifetime as they try to make peace with the past, find new purpose, and grapple with the knowledge of things to come.
Mercer Street: American Journey 2
Love, honor, and courage take center stage in the second book of John Heldt’s American Journey time-travel series as three women from the present become entangled in the past in the tension-filled months leading up to World War II. Weeks after her husband dies in the middle of an affair, Susan Peterson, 48, seeks solace on a California vacation with her mother Elizabeth and daughter Amanda. The novelist, however, finds more than she bargained for when she meets a professor who possesses the secret of time travel. Within days, the women travel to 1938 and Princeton, New Jersey. Elizabeth begins a friendship with her refugee parents and infant self, while Susan and Amanda fall for a widowed admiral and a German researcher with troubling ties. Filled with poignancy, heartbreak, and intrigue, Mercer Street gives new meaning to sacrifice and commitment as it follows three strong-willed souls on the adventure of a lifetime.
Indiana Belle: American Journey 3
Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the “time-travel professor,” and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, Indiana Belle follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.
Class of ’59: American Journey 4
When Mary Beth McIntire settles into a vacation house on June 2, 2017, she anticipates a quiet morning with coffee. Then she hears a noise, peers out a window, and spots a man in 1950s attire standing in the backyard. She panics when the trespasser sees her and enters the house though a door to the basement. She questions her sanity when she cannot find him. In the same house on March 21, 1959, Mark Ryan finds a letter. Written by the mansion’s original owner in 1900, the letter describes a basement chamber, mysterious crystals, and a formula for time travel. Driven by curiosity, Mark tests the formula twice. On his second trip to 2017, he encounters a beautiful stranger. He meets the woman in the window. Within hours, Mary Beth and Mark share their secret with her sister and his brother and begin a journey that takes them from the present day to the age of sock hops, drive-ins, and jukeboxes. In Class of ’59, the fourth book in the American Journey series, four young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they navigate the corridors of time and experience Southern California in its storied prime.
Hannah’s Moon: American Journey 5
After struggling for years to have a child, Claire Rasmussen, 34, turns to adoption, only to find new obstacles on the path to motherhood. Then she gets an unlikely phone call and soon learns that a distant uncle possesses the secrets of time travel. Within weeks, Claire, husband Ron, and brother David find themselves on a train to Tennessee and 1945, where adoptable infants are plentiful and red tape is short. For a time, they find what they seek. Then a beautiful stranger enters their lives, the Navy calls, and a simple, straightforward mission becomes a race for survival. Filled with suspense, romance, and heartbreak, Hannah’s Moon, the epic conclusion of the American Journey series, follows the lives of four spirited adults as they confront danger, choices, and change in the tense final months of World War II.
Carson Chronicles: The First Three Novels
Shortly after his parents disappear on a hike, Arizona engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret web site and learns that his mother and father are time travelers stuck in the past. Armed with the information he needs to find them, Adam convinces his younger siblings to join him on a rescue mission to the past. Within weeks, however, circumstances and history turn a quick trip into a life-changing journey. In RIVER RISING, THE MEMORY TREE, and INDIAN PAINTBRUSH, the first three novels of John A. Heldt’s CARSON CHRONICLES series, several young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they travel through time to 1889, 1918, and 1944.
River Rising: Carson Chronicles 1
Weeks after his parents disappear on a hike, engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret web site and learns his mom and dad are time travelers stuck in the past. Armed with the information he needs to find them, Adam convinces his younger siblings to join him on a rescue mission to the 1880s. While Greg, the adventurous middle brother, follows leads in the Wild West, Adam, journalist Natalie, and high school seniors Cody and Caitlin do the same in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Like the residents of the bustling steel community, all are unaware of a flood that will destroy the city on May 31, 1889. In River Rising, the first novel in the Carson Chronicles series, five young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they experience America in the age of bustle dresses, gunslingers, and robber barons.
The Memory Tree: Carson Chronicles 2
Days after barely escaping 1889 with their lives, the Carsons, siblings from the present day, resume their search for their missing parents in 1918. While Adam and his pregnant wife, Bridget, settle in Minnesota, unaware of a wildfire that will kill hundreds, Greg seeks clues in his great-grandparents’ Mexico, where he finds love, danger, and enemies. At the same time, Natalie, the ambitious journalist, follows a trail to World War I France, and teen twins Cody and Caitlin rekindle a friendship with an old Pennsylvania friend haunted by her past. In THE MEMORY TREE, the sweeping sequel to RIVER RISING, several time travelers find answers and meaning as they continue the adventure of a lifetime in the age of doughboys, silent movies, and Model T’s.
Indian Paintbrush: Carson Chronicles 3
Arizona, December 1943. After surviving perilous six-month journeys to 1889 and 1918, the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, seek a respite in their home state. While Adam and Greg settle down with their Progressive Era brides, Natalie and Caitlin start romances with wartime aviators and Cody befriends a Japanese family in an internment camp. The time travelers regroup, bury some ghosts, and continue their search for their missing parents. Then old problems return, new ones emerge, and a peaceful hiatus becomes a race for survival. In INDIAN PAINTBRUSH, the sequel to RIVER RISING and THE MEMORY TREE, several young adults find love and adventure as they navigate the home front during the height of World War II.
Caitlin’s Song: Carson Chronicles 4
Love, courage, and commitment take center stage as the Carsons, a family of time travelers, continue their saga in the great American West. For the Carson children, ages 19 to 29, an unplanned stop in 1962 is a chance to grow. Adam, Greg, and Natalie begin lives with new spouses in Boulder, Colorado, while twins Cody and Caitlin get their first taste of college. All plan to resume the search for their missing parents as soon as they can. For Tim and Caroline Carson, a planned stop in the rendezvous year of 1972 is a nightmare. While reading about their children’s lives in 1962, they learn that one has crossed paths with a killer. Faced with limited options, they race back to the past to reroute history and prevent a series of murders. In CAITLIN’S SONG, the fourth novel in the Carson Chronicles series, members of a modern family find romance, adventure, and terror as they seek answers and each other in four memorable eras of American history.
Camp Lake: Carson Chronicles 5
Phoenix, Spring 1983. For the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, it has come down to this. Find the parents they have chased through time for more than two years or go home and resume their lives without them. While Adam and Greg remain in Arizona and Natalie searches the country for leads, Cody and Caitlin travel to a summer camp in Maine, where their mother and father met as counselors. The twins, now 19, hope to intercept the older versions of their parents even as they work beside the younger ones. All of the Carsons prepare for a reunion that seems inevitable. Then tragedy strikes one family member and seductive strangers pull two others in unhelpful directions as a summer of promise turns into one of uncertainty and sacrifice. Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, CAMP LAKE, the poignant conclusion of the Carson Chronicles series, follows the lives of several spirited adults as they confront choices and change the era of big hair, space shuttles, and video arcades.
Time Box: The First Three Novels
Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes with his family to the past and begins a life-changing journey. In THE LANE BETRAYAL, THE FAIR, and SEA SPRAY, the first three novels of John A. Heldt’s TIME BOX saga, several intrepid souls find love, danger, and adventure as they travel through time to 1865, 1893, and 1927.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage, American Journey, and Carson Chronicles series comes the first book in the Time Box saga. Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865. For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past. Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark’s betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight. Filled with romance, suspense, and history, THE LANE BETRAYAL follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.
From the author of THE LANE BETRAYAL comes the second novel in the Time Box saga. Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of six, seek safety and contentment in 1893, the latest stop on a journey through time. While parents Mark and Mary find relief at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, an extravaganza of science and splendor, children Jeremy, Laura, and Ashley find romance, friendship, and thrills. Older son Jordan, meanwhile, heads west in search of answers. Grieving the loss of a lover from 1865, he travels to Virginia City, Nevada, where he integrates himself into a storied mining community and the heart of a pretty library clerk. Billionaire Robert Devereux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends an assassin to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome family. Filled with humor, heartbreak, and suspense, THE FAIR follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through an unforgettable year in American history.
From the author of THE LANE BETRAYAL and THE FAIR comes the third novel in the Time Box saga. Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of seven, seek peace and safety in 1927, the latest stop on a journey through time. For a while, each succeeds. Parents Mark and Mary find housing in affluent East Hampton, New York, where a gracious elderly couple offers use of their mansion. Son Jordan and his new wife, Jessie, plan a family. Siblings Laura, Jeremy, and Ashley pursue fun and adventure. All form strong friendships with the Prices, a mysterious mirror-image family that lives next door. Billionaire Robert Devereaux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends a hit man to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan. Randy Taylor, who programs the machines, is determined to stop him. He tries to undermine his boss and save the Lanes, even as he tries to help his mother beat a deadly illness. He pines for the day he can join his fugitive friends and rekindle a promising relationship with Laura Lane. Filled with romance, humor, and heartbreak, SEA SPRAY follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through the exciting and often dangerous world of Lindbergh, Gershwin, and Fitzgerald.
From the author of THE LANE BETRAYAL, THE FAIR, and SEA SPRAY comes the fourth novel in the Time Box saga. Months after stealing two time machines, the Lanes, a modern family of seven, make a stand against the unhinged software mogul who wants them back. They travel to 1941 Oahu to eliminate the billionaire’s mercenary, an assassin who has chased them through time. While son Jordan, a former intelligence officer, stalks his unknowing foe in the streets of Honolulu, his parents, younger siblings, and pregnant wife settle in the village of Laie, where love, friendship, and opportunity await. All seek refuge from the perils of time travel. Hit man Silas Bain has his own agenda. He hopes to alter the events of December 7, 1941, and indirectly save a brilliant German physicist, his employer’s grandfather, from certain death. He has prepared for every contingency, except the charms of a beautiful heiress. Filled with romance, suspense, and intrigue, THE REFUGE takes readers on a thrilling and memorable ride through the colorful, magical, and dangerous world of pre-Pearl Harbor Hawaii.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Time Box series comes the dramatic conclusion of a story that spans a century. Two years after stealing portable time machines, the Lanes, a family from the present day, stop running and start living. They settle in the seaside town of Coronado, California, in 1963. For Jordan, Laura, and Jeremy, the oldest children, the respite is a chance to nurture relationships, start families, and explore the country. It is an opportunity to put down roots. For Ashley, the youngest, it is a chance to thrive. Now fourteen, she is ready to start high school, make friends, and make up for lost time. She finds popularity and more after a classmate nominates her for freshman homecoming princess. Robert Devereaux could not care less. The deranged billionaire wants his time machines back and is willing to do anything to get them. He sends a hit man to the past, setting into motion a final confrontation between a hunter and his prey. In CROWN CITY, the suspenseful finale of the Time Box saga, a defiant family finds romance, friendship, and danger as it navigates the final months of the Kennedy presidency.
Second Chance: The Complete Trilogy
In 2022, Bill, Paul, and Annie Carpenter are seniors with broken bodies and broken dreams. Then the single, childless siblings discover that a legendary fountain of youth in Mexico may be more than a myth. Within weeks, the Carpenters enter a mysterious cave and exit in 1905 as healthy young adults. They begin a fantastic journey in the age of the San Francisco earthquake, the Titanic, and World War I. In THE FOUNTAIN, ANNIE’S APPLE, and DUTIES AND DREAMS, the novels of John A. Heldt’s SECOND CHANCE trilogy, three old souls find love, danger, and adventure as they experience the most pivotal events of the early twentieth century.
Portland, Oregon. In May 2022, the Carpenters are a sad lot. Bill, 81, has just buried his beloved wife. Paul, 75, has terminal lung cancer. Annie, 72, is a paraplegic with broken dreams. Childless and directionless, the siblings face an uncertain future in their childhood home. Then Bill, a retired folklore professor, learns from a dying man that the legendary Fountain of Youth, his obsession for decades, may be more than a myth. He races to Mexico to find the truth. Within weeks, the Carpenters, with nothing to lose, enter a mysterious cave and exit in July 1905 as healthy young adults. They begin new lives in Oakland, California, only vaguely aware of a devastating earthquake that will rock the San Francisco Bay Area on April 18, 1906. In THE FOUNTAIN, the first book in the Second Chance trilogy, three siblings find opportunity, romance, and heartbreak as they make the most of a new lease on life.
Annie’s Apple: Second Chance 2
Six years after emerging from a fountain of youth, siblings Bill, Paul, and Annie Carpenter, time travelers from 2022, make their way in 1911. In New York, Bill and wife Cassie finish a year as educators and struggle to start a family, while Annie tries her hand as a society reporter. In Arizona, Paul and Andy Lee, sergeants and brothers-in-law, attempt to keep the Mexican Revolution from spilling across the border. For all, life marches on. Then the soldiers receive new orders, Paul and Annie meet alluring strangers, and the family’s fortunes take dramatic turns. In ANNIE’S APPLE, the sweeping sequel to THE FOUNTAIN, five young adults find love, danger, and adventure in the age of factory fires, high society, and the sinking of the Titanic.
Duties and Dreams: Second Chance 3
From the author of THE FOUNTAIN and ANNIE’S APPLE comes a story that spans decades of conflict and change. As World War I rages in Europe, the Carpenters and the Lees make a home in Southern California. Bill and Cassie add to their family. Andy and Annie start one of their own. Paul, a bachelor, enters the world of business. All find peace in a turbulent time. Then draft notices arrive, illness strikes a child, and life for two intertwined families takes a troubling turn. Thirty years later, Emilie Perot, a beautiful resistance fighter, and Steve and Shannon Taylor, an American couple with ties to Paul Carpenter, conspire to escape Nazi occupation. Each seeks freedom and a new life in France’s Vosges Mountains, home of a legendary fountain of youth that can restore health and send visitors through time. As events unfold in the different eras, the participants march on. All are unaware of the forces that seem determined to throw them together. In DUTIES AND DREAMS, the epic conclusion of the Second Chance trilogy, several young adults find love, heartbreak, and redemption in a world of war, pandemics, and social unrest.
From the author of the critically acclaimed Second Chance series comes the first book in the Stone Shed saga. When Noah Maclean, 22, races home from Europe, he finds a dying grandfather, a hidden letter, and a family secret that dates to the 1740s. He learns he is the keeper of a stone shed that can send people through time. Within weeks, Noah and his brother, Jake, 15, test their inheritance. They travel to 1776 to see Philadelphia in the age of Benjamin Franklin, the Declaration of Independence, and the American Revolution. Expecting to return within weeks, the orphaned brothers make the most of their field trip through history. Then they meet the lovely daughters of a furniture maker, and a pleasant adventure becomes a transformative journey. Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, THE PATRIOTS follows two lost souls through a critical moment in time as they adjust to new surroundings and wrestle with knowledge of things to come.