Bygones, Sommerfeld Trilogy Series #1

Widow Marie Koeppler and her grown daughter, Beth, reluctantly return to the Mennonite community Marie abandoned 23 years ago---to meet the conditions of their Aunt Lisbeth's will. When a series of thefts raises suspicions against the "outsiders," can Marie prove their innocence? Has she stolen more than Henry Braun's heart?

Kim Vogel Sawyer's Bygones, the first book of the Sommerfield trilogy, the author stresses time and time again the value of simplicity. Marie, the heroine of Bygones, is drawn back to the Mennonite community where she grew up, when her daughter Beth is forced to live there for three months to claim a generous inheritance from Marie's aunt. The situation in the town of Sommerfield, Marie's childhood home, is complicated and fragile because Marie left the Mennonite group to follow a non-Mennonite trucker out of Sommerfield for love and marriage.

Beth, who was reared in a secular but morally-instructive home, feels trapped during her time in Sommerfield, and soon adopts a “get the goods and get out” mindset. Encouraged by the unfriendly greetings of family and friends from her mother's past, Beth begins to resent Sommerfield – a resentment which soon pits her against Marie in a sizable mother-daughter conflict. Marie is forced to confront the people she left when she rode Beth's father's pickup truck out of town during her adolescence. While Marie's family and friends in Sommerfield feel that she abandoned them personally by choosing to live outside her faith community, Marie was subsequently made unwelcome by her own father, and feels that the lack of her friends and family's reaching out to her after her departure is inhospitable at best. As the tensions of Bygones grow, mother, daughter, and the residents of Sommerfield are all forced to re-examine their faith and clarify their motives.

Sawyer has started a trilogy with Bygones that is strongly grounded in godly living, full of dynamic characters, and is a great example of realistic characters dealing with plausible hurdles in a believable way. Add to this the fact that Sawyer's characters are unique, easy to relate to, and caught up in compelling conflicts, and any reader of faith-based fiction with threads of intrigue and romance is sure to enjoy Bygones. – Meg D. R. Tepfer, Christian Book Previews.com

Average Rating:

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Reviewed by Gaynell Cole (Canton, NC), September 26, 2008

I loved this series. My reading group at church, 4 good friends started reading Amish books and loved them too. It proves you can always go home and we all are different and can still be friends.

Reviewed by Karen M. Byus (Amelia, OH), August 14, 2008

I have not finished this first book of the series, but it is absolutely wonderful. The story moves along at a good pace and I'm already looking forward to the other two books!

Reviewed by Sharon Dayton (Manchester, CT), August 08, 2008

Excellent read! Kim Vogel is a very talented storyteller, drawing you into the story and keeping your rapt attention. I just finished reading book 3 of the trilogy and thoroughly enjoyed all of the books. Highly recommended!

Reviewed by Wendy (Pennsylvania), August 05, 2008

This is the first book I have read by Kim Vogel Sawyer. I must say, I was very pleased. I am excited to read the next two books in this trilogy.

Reviewed by Sharon A. Lavy (New Carlisle, OH), July 12, 2008

The story has many threads, and the blurb on the back of the book and on Kim's website doesn't mention the thread that struck me the most. What touched me, was the thread about how much we need the love of our earthly father. I followed along with the bittersweet moments as some in the community embrace Marie, but her Father holds back his welcome. And her mother is a Godly wife who follows her husbands lead, even when it breaks her own heart. The conclusion to this thread was very healing for me.

Reviewed by Cheryl Zingo (Bloomfield, NY), April 23, 2008

My daughter and I are in the process of reading this one. We just love the way that Kim Vogel Sawyer writes. Her books just flow from scene to scene. I think we are on about chapter 12 and we can just see how appropriate the titles were for this series. They have to let the bygones be bygones before they can have any beginning. And then I can see how blessings would just come naturally after that. Love ya Kim! Love your books! Keep them coming!

Reviewed by Marie (Wichita, KS), February 27, 2008

I've never read Mennonite fiction before, but I really enjoyed this story. The character development was so good I felt like I knew these people when the book was done. I also really liked the message about what happens to someone who refuses to forgive. It made me look at my own life and try to see if there are places I need to change. This is one of those books that will entertain you but it can also change you. That makes it 5 stars for me.

Reviewed by Kathleen Gargano (Branford, CT), February 25, 2008

I really enjoyed the story of forgiveness and redemption contained in these pages. The solid character in Henry and later in Marie was inspirational. The conversion of Beth deserved more elaboration to make it convincing and Marie's mother never was developed even in the reconciliation at the end of the story. I am now reading Beginnings. Over all you will most likely enjoy this story if you like clean fictio with a christian theme and message. Otherwise you will likley not care for it that much. Kathleen

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Author: Kim Vogel Sawyer
Located in: Hutchinson, KS
Submitted: January 13, 2007

    Tell us a little about yourself.  I am wife to Don, mom to three girls, and doting gramma for three...soon to be four...grandchildren. I adore "C" words like children, cats, and chocolate, and I never go a day without singing. Most of all, I'm blessed to be a born-again child of the King.

    What was your motivation behind this project?  In part, I hoped to juxtapose the Amish and Mennonite--many people tend to lump them together. Hopefully I've been able to do a little educating on their similarities/differences. But mostly I wanted to show, in story form, the freedom that comes from forgiveness of long-held wrongs.

    What do you hope folks will gain from this project?  Carrying a grudge is hard on a heart and results in pain and bitterness--and it has a negative trickle-down affect from the carrier to those around him/her. The Bible admonishes us not to let the sun go down on our anger...for good reason.

    Who are your influences, sources of inspiration or favorite authors / artists?  God is my biggest influence--He planted the desire to write in me, I believe, from the moments of my conception. He also gifted me with parents who encouraged my writing, and put teachers in my pathway who helped me grow and develop my skills. I'm thrilled to be a part of American Christian Fiction Writers--what a wonderful group of encouragers they are!

    Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know:  I love to hear from readers! Please feel free to visit my website www.KimVogelSawyer.com

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