Showing results by author "Kim Vogel Sawyer" in All Categories

Sadie Wagner has always been devoted to her family. So when her stepfather is injured and can't work, she decides to leave home and accept a position as a clerk at the mercantile in Goldtree, Kansas. Goldtree also offers the opportunity to use her God-given singing talent - though the promised opera house is far different from what she imagined. With her family needing every cent she can provide, Sadie will do anything to keep her job.

During the Great Depression, city-dweller Addie Cowherd dreams of becoming a novelist and offering listeners the escape that books had given her during her tragic childhood. When her father loses his job, she is forced to take the only employment she can find delivering books on horseback to poor coal-mining families in the hills of Kentucky. But turning a new page will be nearly impossible in Boone's Hollow, where residents are steeped in superstitions and deeply suspicious of outsiders.

When Meghan DeFord is forced to take a six-week leave-of-absence after a traffic accident, she chooses to spend the time with her grandmother. Meghan has wonderful memories of childhood summers with her Grandma Hazel and anticipates a time of relaxation and filling a scrapbook with pictures of their time together. Meghan's mother arrives unexpectedly and brings her long resentment towards Hazel for her overprotectiveness and near paranoia. During their time together, Hazel confesses her long-held secret....

Suddenly all alone in 1894 Kansas, Summer Steadman can't find the employment she needs to settle near the fresh graves of her husband and four children. Bitter against the Lord and refusing to eat, she collapses in despair. Remembering his own painful loss, godly widower Peter Ollenbuger offers her food and shelter for tutoring his 10-year-old son.

A Home in Drayton Valley is a tale of keeping the faith in the face of great uncertainty. In 1880, Tarsie Raines is traveling from New York to Kansas with the Brubachers: Joss, Mary, and their two children. Along the way, tragedy strikes, leaving Tarsie and Joss alone to face an unthinkable crisis - and only God’s love to guide them forward.

With a college diploma safely in hand, 20-year-old Thomas Ollenburger is torn between his Mennonite roots on the Kansas prairie and his affluent life in Boston society - and by romantic entanglements in each world. And now even Heaven seems deaf to questions about his choices of vocation, wife, and home.

Drawn to the enduring truths of Kim Vogel Sawyer’s gentle stories, fans and critics alike have fallen in love with the novels of this ACFW Book of the Year Award winner. Set in 1888 Kansas, A Hopeful Heart tells the story of a young woman from Back East who’s convinced she must settle for a life that’s second best. But as she struggles to overcome the challenges of a new faith and the hardships of frontier life, she may discover that—for her—the best is yet to come.

Kim Vogel Sawyer enlivens listeners’ hearts with her CBA and ECPA best-selling inspirational novels. Set in 1898 Alaska, A Whisper of Peace finds Lizzie Dawson living alone in a forest cabin, ostracized by the members of her native tribe - thanks to her mixed Athbascan and white heritage. Into her world comes missionary Clay Selby, a man devoted to spreading the word of God. Lizzie and Clay’s attraction is immediate, but it also threatens to derail Clay’s work and further alienate Lizzie from her people.

After a New York tenement fire kills their immigrant parents in 1886, Maelle, Mattie, and Molly Gallagher soon find themselves aboard a crowded orphan train - hoping a family will adopt them in Missouri. Despite eight-year-old Maelle's best efforts to keep the young survivors together, they must split up.

Eighteen-year-old Laurel Millard, youngest of seven children, is expected to stay home and "take care of Mama" by her older siblings, but Laurel has dreams of starting her own family. Operating a silk loom at the Atlanta Exposition will give her the chance to capture the heart of a man wealthy enough to take care of Laurel and any children she might bear, as well as her mother. Willie Sharp is not well-off and must take on an extra job at the Atlanta Exposition as a security guard.

In A Promise for Spring by ACF Book of the Year novelist Kim Vogel Sawyer, Geoffrey Garrett leaves his 17-year-old fiancée in England while he establishes his Kansas ranch and builds her a proper house. But when he sends for her five years later in 1874, it's clear her feelings have changed far more than his. Despite his desire to marry and her wish to leave, they forge a compromise. If she remains as the ranch's housekeeper until spring, he will pay for her trip back home.

With their eldest son nearly to the age when he will be drafted into military service, Reinhardt and Lillian Vogt decide to immigrate to America, the land of liberty, with their three sons and Reinhardt's adopted brother, Eli. But when tragedy strikes during the voyage, Lillian and Eli are forced into an agreement neither desires.

Indentured servant Fanny Beck has been forced to sing for riverboat passengers since she was a girl. All she wants is to live a quiet, humble life with her family as soon as her seven-year contract is over. However, when she discovers that the captain has no intention of releasing her, she seizes a sudden opportunity to escape - an impulse that leads Fanny to a group of enslaved people who are on their own dangerous quest for liberty.

Alexa Zimmerman wonders if the Old Order Mennonite community in Arborville, Kansas, will ever fully accept her. Her family roots here aren't what anyone thought when she first arrived, but she is hopeful that her culinary and hospitality skills will win the skeptics over. The bed-and-breakfast she's operating needs to succeed, so Alexa agrees to allow Briley Forrester, the hotshot reporter from Chicago, to stay as a long-term boarder, not knowing his real motives for being among the Plain folk.

Growing up in the foster care system, Jase Edgar always dreamed of one day starting his own family. But his fiancée's untimely death shattered his plans. Moving to Kansas and serving as a youth minister should be a fresh start, but he can't seem to set aside his doubts about God's goodness long enough to embrace his new life. Newly appointed church custodian Lori Fowler is battling her own challenges.

Neva Shilling has a heavy load of responsibility while her husband travels to neighboring communities and sells items from his wagon. In his absence, she faithfully runs the Shilling Mercantile, working to keep their business strong as the Depression takes its toll, and caring for their twins. When a wagon pulls up after supper, Neva and her children rush out - and into the presence of the deputy driving a wagon carrying three young children.

Anthony and Marty Hirschler are part of an Old Order Mennonite community in Pine Hill, Indiana. The couple has grown apart since a doctor confirmed they would never have children. Marty longs to escape the tight-knit area where large families are valued, and the opportunity to do so arises when her childhood friend, Brooke Spalding, resurfaces with the wild idea of rebuilding a ghost town into a resort community. Brooke hires Anthony to help with the construction, drawing the Hirschlers away from Indiana and into her plan, and then finds herself diagnosed with cancer.

When Gilbert Baty leaves his childhood love and moves to New York City in 1901 to secure his place as a composer and conductor, he is met with rejection at every turn. Out of funds and opportunities, he returns to his hometown, the Mennonite community of Falke, Kansas, in the hopes of finding new inspiration—and work—just to tide him over. Ava Flaming never expected to see Gil again, and his sudden return stirs the old feelings she’d worked so hard to bury. When Gil forms the town’s first youth band, she finds herself falling for him all over again.

In this enthralling tale, schoolmarm Edythe Amsel arrives in 1882 Nebraska with lofty goals. Soon her teaching methods—and her views on women’s rights—ruffle feathers. Only Joel Townsend speaks in support of the teacher who’s won the affection of his nephews. But when Miss Amsel reveals her deepest beliefs, he can no longer defend her—even if she’s stolen his heart.

With Pap hauled off to the state penitentiary, Bettina finally feels safe. Living with Nanny Fay Tucker, working as a packhorse librarian, and being courted by Shay Leeson is a life beyond anything she'd imagined. And it's only going to get better. Because soon she'll be an honorary auntie to her best friend Addie's baby, and--for sure not much longer--she'll exchange vows with Shay and become his wife. Things in Boone's Hollow couldn't be rosier...until she gets word that the governor suspended Pap's sentence and he'll be coming back sooner than she expected. Shay wants to marry her real ...