Waiting for Summer's Return »

Debut novelist KIM VOGEL SAWYER is a wife, mother, and part-time elementary school teacher. Her previous work has been published in several magazines and anthologies. Kim and her husband, Don, reside in Hutchinson, Kansas, and have three daughters and two grandsons.

All alone on the Kansas prairie, Summer Steadman has few options. With her husband and children lost to illness, she has no desire to continue on farther west to where she and her husband planned to build their future. Instead, she seeks employment in a small Mennonite community in order to be near the graves of her family.

Widower Peter Ollenburger, the local gristmill owner, needs someone to teach his young son. When he hears of a "learned woman" in town, he believes she is the answer to his prayers. He soon discovers, however, that helping this outsider may have troublesome consequences.

There is little this father will not do for his son, but as the boy begins to look at Summer as more than a teacher, Peter must make a choice. Does he marry this woman to give his son a new mother, or does he marry only for love?

Will Summer's broken heart ever be able to love again?

Romance Designs.com

"Ms. Sawyer debuts with a powerful story of a mother's greatest heartbreak and search to re-discover God. With the help of the widower Peter, his son Thomas, and their Grossmutter, Summer was led back to the land of living with patience and purpose in a moving and deeply emotional journey by discovering the joy of inviting Christ into her barren heart. Sawyer's depiction of the tight-knit Mennonite community, their customs, living conditions, and fear of 'outsiders' was all skillfully integrated into a fast paced story. This debut author hooked me from the very beginning by breathing the very life and soul into her characterizations in an engrossing and superb debut that I highly recommend. Brava!"