Hold Back The Dawn! is Mr. Willemin’s first novel. Like the novel’s protagonist, Father Hughes, Willemin did not pay much attention to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s. Later, however, again like Hughes, his attention was forcefully directed to the changes in the Catholic Church, spawning enough interest to warrant a novel. Willemin served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean engagement. He is now a retired actuary who enjoys oil painting, as well as writing short stories and poetry, but who, he must say, had to persevere to complete his first novel.