When the Heart Cries (Sisters of the Quilt, Book 1)

Product Description

When Hannah dares to love across the boundaries of tradition, will she lose everything?

Despite being raised in a traditional Old Order Amish family, seventeen-year-old Hannah Lapp desires to break with custom, forgo baptism into the faith, and marry outside the cloistered community. She’s been in love with Mennonite Paul Waddell for three years, and before returning to college for his senior year, Paul asks Hannah to be his wife. Hannah accepts, aware that her marriage will change her relationship with her family forever.

On the evening of their engagement, tragedy strikes and in one unwelcome encounter, all that Hannah has known and believed is destroyed. As she finds herself entangled in questions that the Old Ways of her people cannot answer, Hannah faces the possibility of losing her place in her family, in her community– and in the heart of the man she loves.

When the Heart Cries is book one in the Sisters of the Quilt series.

From Publishers Weekly

In this debut inspirational novel, Woodsmall takes readers inside a contemporary Amish family where the eldest daughter, Hannah, has fallen in love with her neighbor Paul. The trouble is that he’s a Mennonite, and if those two faiths look similar to outsiders, they don’t to Hannah’s father, who would never permit his daughter to marry outside the Amish community. Yes, this is a familiar setup, with shades of the movie
Witness. But the star-crossed romance is only the backdrop to the central events of the novel: in the very first chapter, Hannah experiences a trauma, setting in motion a chain of events that sometimes seems incredible. Woodsmall’s prose is undistinguished; she too often flatly describes emotions (“Disappointment and anger formed a knot in Luke’s chest”), and the Pennsylvania Dutch sprinkled throughout the book can be distracting. Still, this novel shows potential. Most of the characters are likable, and Woodsmall depicts both the appeal and the potential myopia of secluded Amish life. An emotionally subtle subplot involving Hannah’s younger sister’s envy adds some depth. Better yet, the surprising conclusion sets Woodsmall up for a sequel—but she’ll need some fine-tuning if she wants a truly lasting series.
(Sept. 19)
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From Booklist

Woodsmall’s Amish heroine is naive Hannah Lapp, who, as the novel begins, accepts the marriage proposal of her childhood friend, Paul Waddell. But Paul is a Mennonite–and, almost worse, a college man. He embraces such corrupt modernisms as gasoline engines and the Internet. To outsiders, the differences between Amish and Mennonites may seem subtle, but that’s not the case for Hannah’s Old Order father, and all hell breaks loose. Woodsmall’s first novel, which will more than likely beget a series, seems a worthy successor–or companion–to Beverly Lewis’ popular stories of the Pennsylvania Amish.
John MortCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Praise for When the Heart Cries
“As a native of Lancaster County, born and raised among Amish and Mennonite neighbors, I began reading
When the Heart Cries with some trepidation. My concerns were quickly put aside: Cindy Woodsmall’s research is thorough, and Hannah Lapp’s Amish voice rings true. Her story is both touching and tragic, yet hope shines through every page-turning chapter. A moving and meaningful first novel.”

–Liz Curtis Higgs, best-selling author of Grace in Thine Eyes

“Reaching deep into the heart of the reader, Cindy Woodsmall pens a beautifully lyrical story in her debut novel
When the Heart Cries. She paints a vivid backdrop of Amish and Mennonite cultures with fascinating detail and memorable clarity. Fans of this genre will be thrilled to discover this new author, and I look forward to the next book in the Sisters of the Quilt series.”

–Tamera Alexander, bestselling author of Rekindled

“What a vibrant, strong, e