Sawyer, Kim Vogel

PERSONAL:

Hobbies and other interests: Drama, quilting, and calligraphy.

CAREER:

Writer, novelist, public speaker, evangelist, and educator.

WRITINGS:

A Seeking Heart, ACW Press, 2002.

Dear John, Heartsong Presents (Uhrichsville, OH), 2006.

That Wilder Boy, Heartsong Presents (Uhrichsville, OH), 2006.

Waiting for Summer's Return, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2006.

Where Willows Grow, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2007.

Promising Angela, Heartsong Presents (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

Montana Mistletoe, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

Kansas Weddings, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

My Heart Remembers, Bethany House (Minneapolis, MN), 2008.

"SOMMERFELD" TRILOGY; NOVELS

Bygones, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

Beginnings, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

Blessings, Barbour Publishing (Uhrichsville, OH), 2007.

Also author of My Heart Remembers.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kim Vogel Sawyer is a writer whose works combine religious inspiration with accounts of Christian determination and recovery. On her Internet home page, Sawyer describes her mission as "writing gentle stories of hope" with fiction that illustrates the "hope we can all possess when we place our hearts and souls in God's very capable hands." A former teacher, Sawyer is the mother of a special-needs child, has endured a life of chronic pain, and has experienced the harshness of poverty. As part of her evangelical mission, she speaks and writes on how she copes with, and has occasionally overcome, these issues and physical conditions through her faith.

The title character of Waiting for Summer's Return, Summer Steadman, has experienced shattering personal tragedy, losing her entire family to typhoid fever during their migration west. Devastated by her loss, Summer withdraws into depression, hoping that she herself will soon die. In her grief, she develops a deep anger against God, blaming him for her loss and for ignoring her prayers in her time of greatest need. With no other options, Summer decides to remain in the midwestern town of Gaeddert, where her children are buried. Soon, however, she is offered a job by local resident Peter Ollenburger, who wants her to teach his son, who is physically unable to attend the local school after a serious injury. Summer reluctantly agrees, and through her relationship with Peter and his family, and his demonstrated devotion to his religious beliefs, she emerges from her personal pain and begins to heal. Armchair Interviews reviewer Marty Medley called the book "wonderful light reading for summer vacation."

Bygones, the first book of Sawyer's "Sommerfeld" trilogy, tells the story of Marie Koeppler Quinn, a widowed mother who has been drawn back to the Mennonite community she abandoned more than twenty-three years ago. Marie left Sommerfeld when she fell in love with a young truck driver, and when she did, her family disowned her and will not welcome her back. Now, her Aunt Lisabeth has died and left Marie her house, as long as she comes back and lives there for at least six months. Along with her daughter, Marie returns to Sommerfeld to fulfill the conditions of her aunt's will, but she is aghast at the primitive living conditions that still exist there. Marie's reluctant homecoming is emotionally troubling to her, as memories of everything she once treasured there and left behind, including a young man named Henry Braun, begin to haunt her. Complicating matters are the recent thefts of antiques from the residents' houses; since Marie is the newly arrived outsider, suspicion falls on her. Soon, Marie finds herself defending her reputation even as she reconsiders the merits of the simpler life she has not experienced in more than two decades. Dancing Word reviewer Barbara Warren called the novel a "heart-touching story of new beginnings and old memories. And of a love too strong to die."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Armchair Interviews,http://www.armchairinterviews.com/ (July 30, 2007), Jamie Driggers, review of Bygones; Marty Medley, review of Waiting for Summer's Return.

Barbour Publishing Web site,http://www.barbourbooks.com/ (July 30, 2007), biography of Kim Vogel Sawyer.

Dancing Word,http://www.dancingword.net/ (July 30, 2007), Barbara Warren, review of Bygones.

Kim Vogel Sawyer Home Page,http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com (July 30, 2007).