Bandit troubles intensify as Caleb Bender's family tries to settle into their new life in 1920s Paradise Valley. When El Pantera kidnaps Rachel and leaves her brother, Aaron, for dead, Jake Weaver and the Mexican native Domingo pursue the bandit leader to his mountain stronghold in a hopeless rescue attempt. Jake and Domingo manage to escape with Rachel, with the bandits hot on their trail. In a desperate attempt to avoid recapture, Domingo puts himself squarely in harm's way, giving Jake and Rachel time to get away. This is not the quiet life Caleb Bender envisioned when he led his family out of Ohio. What is a father to make of his daughter's obvious affection for a man outside the fold? And how will a pacifist Amishman like Caleb respond to the events that threaten his family and their way of life?
Captive Heart, The (The Daughters of Caleb Bender)
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About the Author
Dale Cramer is the author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed novels Paradise Valley and Levi's Will. Dale lives in Georgia with his wife and two sons.
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DALE CRAMER was the second of four children born to a runaway Amishman turned soldier and a south Georgia sharecropper's daughter. His formative years were divided between far-flung military bases, yet he always maintained his mother's sense of place, remembering the knee-deep snows of Maryland, chasing horned toads in El Paso, or a sun-rippled macadam road at his grandparents' Georgia house. True to his Amish roots Dale skipped college and went to work with his hands, earning a living as an electrician, all the while reading widely and voraciously. The thought was never far from his mind that someday he would like to write books.
In 1975 he married his childhood friend Pam, and eventually they settled in the country south of Atlanta. They have two sons,Ty and Dusty. After keeping the boys in daycare for a year, Pam and Dale decided to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to provide a full time homelife. The decision came with unexpected results when Dale became a stay-at-home dad. He took on small construction projects in the evenings, both for the sake of his sanity and to help make ends meet. One of these jobs led to his first published writing, an article in Industry Week.
Having gained a taste for writing, he decided to pursue the avocation, studying technique, reading books, and writing during his sons' naps. Over the next two years he published short stories in several literary magazines, and in 1997 Dale began work on his first novel. Sutter's Cross was eventually published to great acclaim in 2003.
His second novel, Bad Ground (2004), owes a great deal to the author's own experiences as a construction electrician. The industrial setting is based on a real water treatment plant on the south side of Atlanta. One of the main characters, badly burned in an explosion, gains a unique measure of authenticity from the author's own experience. Publishers Weekly selected Bad Ground as one of the "Best Books of 2004", as did Library Journal and Booklist. The novel also won a Christy Award from the Christian Booksellers Association.
Dale's third novel, Levi's Will, follows the life of runaway Amishman Will Mullet, who must reconcile himself to his roots before he can find true redemption. Loosely based on the life of Dale's father, Levi's Will has also found critical acclaim and netted Dale a second Christy Award.
Summer of Light, Dale's fourth novel, released in 2007, is a much lighter read, a humorous and sometimes poignant romp through the daily grind of an ironworker who reluctantly becomes a stay at home dad to three free-spirited kids, a menagerie of animals and a diabolically intelligent dog.
In 1975 he married his childhood friend Pam, and eventually they settled in the country south of Atlanta. They have two sons,Ty and Dusty. After keeping the boys in daycare for a year, Pam and Dale decided to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to provide a full time homelife. The decision came with unexpected results when Dale became a stay-at-home dad. He took on small construction projects in the evenings, both for the sake of his sanity and to help make ends meet. One of these jobs led to his first published writing, an article in Industry Week.
Having gained a taste for writing, he decided to pursue the avocation, studying technique, reading books, and writing during his sons' naps. Over the next two years he published short stories in several literary magazines, and in 1997 Dale began work on his first novel. Sutter's Cross was eventually published to great acclaim in 2003.
His second novel, Bad Ground (2004), owes a great deal to the author's own experiences as a construction electrician. The industrial setting is based on a real water treatment plant on the south side of Atlanta. One of the main characters, badly burned in an explosion, gains a unique measure of authenticity from the author's own experience. Publishers Weekly selected Bad Ground as one of the "Best Books of 2004", as did Library Journal and Booklist. The novel also won a Christy Award from the Christian Booksellers Association.
Dale's third novel, Levi's Will, follows the life of runaway Amishman Will Mullet, who must reconcile himself to his roots before he can find true redemption. Loosely based on the life of Dale's father, Levi's Will has also found critical acclaim and netted Dale a second Christy Award.
Summer of Light, Dale's fourth novel, released in 2007, is a much lighter read, a humorous and sometimes poignant romp through the daily grind of an ironworker who reluctantly becomes a stay at home dad to three free-spirited kids, a menagerie of animals and a diabolically intelligent dog.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captive Heart,
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This review is from: Captive Heart, The (The Daughters of Caleb Bender) (Paperback)
I have enjoyed all of the books written by Dale Cramer. He has a very great way with words. You feel as tho you are there.I just finished Captive Heart and wish so much that he had another one to read. i keep them and reread them again. Thanks, Dale
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
2nd in Daughters of Caleb Bender series ratchets up the tension,
By Christina Lockstein "Christy's Book Blog" (Oconto Falls, WI USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Captive Heart, The (The Daughters of Caleb Bender) (Paperback)
The Captive Heart by Dale Cramer is the second book in The Daughters of Caleb Bender series about an Amish man in 1920 who moves his family to rural Mexico in hopes of escaping religious persecution in the United States only to encounter difficulties and loss he never could have imagined. Miriam, his second eldest daughter is still struggling with her feelings for Domingo, a Nahua who has helped the family settle in to Paradise Valley, but in order to please her family she allows Micah to court her. Rachel, the youngest daughter, has settled into a happy courtship with Jake. As more families move into the valley, courting couples anxiously await the arrival of a pastor so they can get married. But El Pantera, the bandit who caused trouble for Caleb and his family in the first novel isn't through with them, and he certainly hasn't forgotten his humiliation at Domingo's hands. Cramer ups the ante in this novel by ratcheting up the tension and action. There is a hopelessness among the Amish as they try to face the absolute evil of a man with no morals without resorting to violence. I felt my nerves stretch as El Pantera struck again and again, each time pushing them a little farther until he finally snaps in an explosion of violence that left me breathless and heartbroken. Cramer really allows the reader to feel the helplessness of the Bender family in the face of evil, clinging bravely to the prayer that Gott will hear them. One warning to readers: don't pick this novel up unless you have the next several hours free, because it is impossible to put down once you start. I can't wait to see what happens next to the Amish of Paradise Valley.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
You can't pass this one up.,
By
This review is from: Captive Heart, The (The Daughters of Caleb Bender) (Paperback)
Having read all of Dale Cramer's books, this one is the best. And that's saying a lot because they're all 5 star in my book. The ongoing saga of the Amish families that moved to Mexico's Paradise Valley is tragic and also heart-warming. Best of all, they're based on the true story of Dale's own family history. I couldn't put it down!
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