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

Cindy Woodsmall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2006

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.

Editorial Reviews

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)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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 Mort
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook Press (September 19, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400072921
• ISBN-13: 978-1400072927
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (139 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #362,898 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Cindy Woodsmall is a New York Times best-selling author who has written six novels, three novellas, and Plain Wisdom, a work of nonfiction coauthored with her dearest Old Order Amish friend, Miriam Flaud. Cindy has been featured on ABC Nightline and on the front page of the Wall Street Journal concerning Amish life.

She's a veteran homeschool mom who no longer holds that position. As her children progressed in age, her desire to write grew stronger. After working through reservations whether this desire was something she should pursue, she began her writing journey. Her husband was her staunchest supporter as she aimed for what seemed impossible.

She's won Fiction Book of the Year, Reviewer's Choice Awards, Inspirational Reader's Choice Contest, and was one of Crossings Best Books of the Year. She's been a finalist for the prestigious Christy, Rita, and Carol Awards, Christian Book of the Year, and Christian Retailers Choice Awards.

Her real-life connections with Amish Mennonite and Old Order Amish families enrich her novels with authenticity. Though she didn't realize it at the time, seeds were sown years ago that began preparing Cindy to write these books. At the age of ten, while living in the dairy country of Maryland, she became best friends with Luann, a Plain Mennonite girl. Luann, like all the females in her family, wore the prayer Kapp and cape dresses. Her parents didn't allow television or radios, and many other modern conveniences were frowned upon. During the numerous times Luann came to Cindy's house to spend the night, her rules came with her and the two were careful to obey them--afraid that if they didn't, the adults would end their friendship. Although the rules were much easier to keep when they spent the night at Luann's because her family didn't own any of the forbidden items, both sets of parents were uncomfortable with the relationship and a small infraction of any kind would have been enough reason for the parents to end the relationship. While navigating around the adults' disapproval and the obstacles in each other's lifestyle, the two girls bonded in true friendship that lasted into their teen years, until Cindy's family moved to another region of the US.

As an adult, Cindy became friends with a wonderful Old Order Amish family who opened their home to her. Although the two women, Miriam and Cindy, live seven hundred miles apart geographically, and a century apart by customs, when they come together they never lack for commonality, laughter, and dreams of what only God can accomplish through His children. Over the years Cindy has continued to make wonderful friendships with those inside the Amish and Mennonite communities--from the most conservative ones to the most liberal.

Cindy lives in Georgia with her husband, three sons, two daughters-in-law, a new granddaughter, and a dog named Jersey who wants to dominate the world, starting with the Woodsmall household.

If you'd like more information or to contact her, you can go to her website: http://www.cindywoodsmall.com or Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorcindywoodsmall

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sterling debut novel, November 30, 2006

By 

Margo Carmichael (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Heart Cries (Sisters of the Quilt, Book 1) (Paperback)

Cindy Woodsmall's past and present ties to the Plain Mennonite and Amish community are evident throughout the novel. She presents a lifestyle beautiful and sweet in its simplicity, but sometimes legalistic to the point of lacking compassion. So when Hannah Lapp, a young Amish woman, falls in love with a young Mennonite man and the problems begin, I was convinced.

Hannah's youthful exuberance, impulsiveness and rebellion against the rather stifling lifestyle lead to a few innocent indiscretions. These cause further problems later, when "the unthinkable" happens, an event hardly mentionable for those that follow the Old Ways. Her parents love and support her, but they are too loyal to the traditions of men, to the letter of their law without the spirit.

They allow their daughter, a victim, to be villified.

With excellent prose and occasional Pennsylvania Dutch terms for flavor, Cindy Woodsmall has given us a charming and powerful coming-of-age novel filled with humor and pathos. After watching the heroine's loves and losses, we are left not with a happy, contrived ending, but a realistic one of hope for the future for the courageous young woman--and for an excellent sequel to this sterling debut novel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cindy Woodsmall's debut novel, WHEN THE HEART CRIES, gets the Sisters of the Quilt series off to a promising start, March 4, 2009

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When the Heart Cries (Sisters of the Quilt, Book 1) (Paperback)

Move over, Beverly Lewis and Wanda Brunstetter. Cindy Woodsmall's debut novel, WHEN THE HEART CRIES, gets the Sisters of the Quilt series off to a promising start, with plenty of Amish intrigue, romance and tragedy.

Hannah Lapp is the 17-year-old daughter of an Old Order Amish family who is in love with the older and more worldly Paul Waddell. She lives on a farm in Owl's Perch in Perry County, Pennsylvania, where life is lived in old-fashioned ways. Paul is Mennonite and, even worse, a college student, which is anathema to Hannah's strict Amish parents. Loving and enjoying time with Paul has shown Hannah the welcome conveniences of electricity and cars, as well as the value of an education (many Amish girls' educations end at eighth grade). Hannah longs for modern accouterments like personal computers and the Internet. Despite her parents' misgivings and the upheaval in her life that loving Paul will bring about, Hannah accepts Paul's marriage proposal.

Then, tragedy strikes when Hannah's stroll along a deserted road leads to a disastrous assault. Her family and Amish community --- rather than consoling and helping her as a victim --- casts her in the role of a promiscuous sinner. They demand she repent of her wrongdoing. Hannah's younger, envious and troubled sister Sarah adds fuel to the fire by misrepresenting Hannah's activities. Worse yet for Hannah, her fiancé is slow to understand the truth, and only a few friends stand by her. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Hannah flees the community to find a long-lost relative, leaving plenty of loose ends dangling to be picked up in the sequel, WHEN THE MORNING COMES.

Some nice subplots abound, leaving room for fleshing them out in future installments in the series. Hannah's brother Luke is in love with Mary Yoder, one of Hannah's best friends, and marriage seems certain. A terrible buggy accident jeopardizes their future together. Hannah's desire to help Mary recover from her injuries by assisting with her physical therapy leads to a newfound fascination with medical knowledge that causes her to yearn for more. Yet another subplot: Matthew Esh, a good friend of Hannnah's who sticks by her in her troubles, is in love with Elle Leggett, an Englischer who was brought up in the Amish tradition. But Elle is concerned that Matthew and Hannah are much more than friends. Can this romance be saved?

At the end of WHEN THE HEART CRIES is a helpful glossary that acquaints the reader with the Pennsylvania Dutch terminology used throughout. Woodsmall includes some nice details in her story. Hannah and Mary work on a "Past and Future" quilt, whose composition will interest quilters and readers of Amish literature. ("Past and Future" quilts in Woodsmall's story integrate materials used in childhood clothing with fabric currently in use. Members of the community contribute material that ties into the engaged couple's life in a meaningful way to be used in the quilt.)

Woodsmall also incorporates some good spiritual lessons throughout her novel, particularly the ugly power of gossip, the reminder that appearances may be misleading, and the value of true friendship. The resolution of Hannah's biggest problem may seem too easy for some readers, but it sets the stage for WHEN THE MORNING COMES. However, the ending will leave the reader longing to know what's next for Hannah, her friends and her Amish community.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story, January 2, 2007

By 

Ann M. Macpherson "passionate reader" (Newcastle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: When the Heart Cries (Sisters of the Quilt, Book 1) (Paperback)

Having grown up in neighboring Berks County in Pa, I was very familiar with the Amish and Mennonites. I enjoy reading stories about them and agree with other reviewers that this "new" author has done much research. She is very accurate with the traditions, the faith as well as Pa.Dutch which my family also spoke. It was an enjoyable story in spite of the trauma which happened to Hannah, the main character. I also look forward to the sequel and will be eager to read about Hannah's future (or not) with Paul and will enjoy watching her grow and mature in her new life.

This is a wonderful new author who definitely will be added to my list of "must read" authors. Her story is easy to read, keeps you interested throughout the entire book and makes you want more----all great elements in a good book. She's a contender-----and will be enjoyed in the future, I am sure.

I hope she write the sequel soon----------I'm ready to read it.