John Bain of Wayland, and Ashley Beach of Denver, Colo., both had signings scheduled for 10 a.m. at the downtown Christian bookstore.

It was the first time both authors had ever been to Marshalltown.

Bain, 56, a retired 33-year veteran of broadcast news, brought the story of his daughter in “Christie’s Journey.” His first book, Bain said many people urged him to publish the story. At the age of 29, Christie experienced sudden cardiac arrest just two months after giving birth. She was at her place of employment and her coworkers acted quickly.

Christie received treatment at the hospital from the pediatric heart surgeon.

“They discovered she was born with a birth defect in her heart that we never knew about for 29 years. How does that happen,” Bain asked. “What usually happens is people who have this go into cardiac arrest in their teen years, and they don’t make it.”

Fortunately, Bain’s daughter is thriving today, and he was inspired to write the story.

“I would tell people, ‘God has a plan for us, and I am not smart enough to know what it is,'” he said. “At every event I have gone to, I have met people who have been in similar scenarios or situations or who just need someone to talk to, and this has been a great experience. We [Bain and his wife Andrea] didn’t pray harder to God for Christie to be well than anybody else. We realize that people pray just as hard for their loved ones and don’t get the outcome they want. We don’t have an answer for that, but we have to have faith in the Lord that there is a master plan. We need to keep that faith.”

Bain began writing the story in January 2020, and finished on Aug. 10, 2020 – the day the derecho swept through Marshalltown. The book was published in January 2021 and Bain has sold about 500 copies thus far. Copies can be purchased at Stepping Stones or various online retailers such as Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

On the other side of the walkway in Stepping Stones, Beach, 32, offered three books in her “Solstice Chronicles” series. She said they are similar to the type of Christian fiction as the “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis. Beach said her books do have a Jesus Christ-like character, and two characters similar to God and the devil. She said she took steps to weave the Christian aspects throughout.

“This is a faith-based fairytale series. So, each book takes place in a different season. The first [“Beauty Restored: A Winter Solstice Chronicle”] takes place in the winter realm. I based each one on different myths or fairy tales. The first one is based on the Snow Queen,” she said.

The second book, “Beauty Redeemed: A Spring Equinox” is based on the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone. The third book, “Beauty Reborn: A Summer Solstice,” deals a lot with the Greek mythical phoenix bird.

“The plot is the idea of beauty being lost, restored, redeemed, reborn, and finding beauty in ourselves and the world around us,” Beach said.

She hopes the books will help readers find healing and encouragement.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 201 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.