I hear the car coming up the driveway as I’m pulling the bread from the oven. It’s as unusual a sound for me as Elijah’s buggy would be on an English driveway. But I don’t really pay it much mind. I have cinnamon butter to make to go with the bread, and Elijah will see to whatever the Englisher wants; probably to inquire about one of the birdhouses we sell. We have a stand next to the road where people can simply slip the money for their purchase into a box, but some are uneasy about doing so for fear it will be stolen. But Elijah and I don’t worry about such things. We have found that most people are truthful.

It is when I turn my attention toward making the cinnamon butter Elijah likes though, that I hear my son, Luke, running up the front steps. This is not an unusual sound. Especially when you have as many children as I have, and even more especially when one of them has a nose for freshly baked bread the way Luke does. I trade a knowing smile with my three year old daughter, Nettie, and ready my standard “you must wait for supper” response.

But I don’t get to say that, because Luke has not come to ask about bread or to ask if he can help Nettie make the cinnamon butter. Instead he has come to tell me that a prayer he doesn’t know I’ve prayed has come true.

I wipe my hands on a nearby dishcloth, send up a silent prayer of thanks along with a request for guidance and strength, and follow my son onto the front porch with Nettie close on my heels. I am excited to see my childhood friend-turned-lifelong-pen pal for the first time in twenty-seven years, yet I am also nervous. Nervous because I have offered her a place to heal in the wake of a horrible tragedy and I desperately want that to be the case, yet I know the kind of healing she needs will not be easy.

I know this because I, too, have suffered a loss that has changed me in many ways. That is why I wanted her to come. Because I know.

I look out at the driveway and the car, my eyes settling on the grownup version of the girl I’ve never forgotten. Her hair is the same warm brown I remember, although now, instead of braids and ponytails as she’d worn that one glorious week so long ago, it sits at her shoulders in need of a good brushing. The hands I watched stroke and feed dat’s horses all those years ago, now fidget nervously at her sides. The cheeks that were always so rosy from a combination of sun and laughter, are now ashen. And the smile she once wore as surely as I wore my kapp is nowhere to be seen.

It is clear, in that moment, that the Danielle I once knew is gone.

It is also clear, in that moment, that I will not give up until she has found herself once again.

Piece by Piece is a women’s fiction novel, released July 28, 2020.

A grieving mother learns to heal in Amish country, in this heartfelt, beautifully told novel from national bestselling author Laura Bradford.

Danielle Parker is a gold-medal mom—the kind who volunteers in her children’s classrooms, shuttles them between activities, throws legendary birthday parties, and has a remedy on hand for any emergency. Whatever her husband, Jeff, and their children need, Dani is there, always.

Except for one day.

On that day—the day that Dani reluctantly takes some “me time” while her mom and Jeff drive the children to the park—the unthinkable happens. The car crash leaves no survivors. Somehow, Dani gets through the funerals and visits, accepting neighbors’ sympathy and dropped-off meals. All the while, guilt and grief make her wish the accident had claimed her life too. Then a call comes from Lydia Schlabach, an Amish woman Dani befriended in childhood. In addition to condolences, Lydia offers Dani something more: a place to escape to.

In Pennsylvania’s Amish country, Dani’s days take on a new rhythm, marked by the clip-clop of buggies and the bustle of chores. Lydia gives Dani space to mourn, to think, and to realize how long it’s been since she felt like a person in her own right. And with the help of friendships old and new, Dani learns about the ways life continues to surprise us—even after the deepest loss—with joy, love, and second chances. . .

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About the author
Laura Bradford is the national bestselling author of more than 35 books, including her latest women’s fiction release, Piece by Piece. Her first women’s fiction novel, Portrait of a Sister, was a July 2018 Book Club Pick for Delilah of Delilah Radio and a Summer Book Club pick for Southern Lady Magazine.

Laura also pens several mystery series including; An Amish Mystery series, the Emergency Dessert Squad Mysteries, the Tobi Tobias Mysteries, the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries (written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey), and a brand new cozy series that will debut with Penguin/Random House in Summer 2021. She is a former Agatha Award nominee, and the recipient of an RT Reviewer’s Choice Award in romance. Laura enjoys baking, spending time with her family, and being an advocate for those living with multiple sclerosis. Learn more at laurabradford.com.

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