For nearly 20 novels now, Kim Vogel Sawyer’s readers have been drawn to her gentle stories and the spiritual truths within.
Her latest novel, In Every Heartbeat (Bethany House), follows three orphans pursuing their dreams even as the world teeters on the brink of World War I. Fans who loved Sawyer’s My Heart Remembers will be glad to reconnect with some familiar characters as well. “Readers seemed to connect with the Gallagher siblings,” the author says. “They clamored for another story so they could find out what happened next.”
Rather than simply continue with the same characters, Sawyer built the new story around some children from the orphan school instead. She initially chose the historical period for In Every Heartbeat simply to jump ahead a decade so “little street ruffian Petey” would be the right age to attend college.
“However, once I began researching college life and other events from the second decade of the 1900s, I discovered many historical bits and pieces that could be woven into the story’s fiber. My favorite research find was a 1914 yearbook from a Missouri college — it really helped me see the campus where Libby, Petey, and Bennett spend a good portion of the story.”
The core truth of In Every Heartbeat can be found in the title of the book itself. “God loves us so much, He thinks of us with every heartbeat,” she says. “Each of these characters holds onto past hurts that hinder them from fully accepting the truth of God’s love. As the characters chip away their self-built shells of unworthiness, resentment and anger, finally seeing how past events have molded them into the people they need to be today to serve God bravely and wisely, I hope readers might find the ability to see God’s fingerprints on their lives–even in the hurtful moments.”