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Leslie Gould is this week’s guest on the podcast, and what a wonderful and fascinating guest she was. We chatted about her new book, A Brighter Dawn, which is a dual time Amish novel. Among the subjects we touched on were what life was like for the Anabaptists in Germany just prior to WWII, Dr. Joseph Mengle, if she likes to write the historical or contemporary threads more, and what it was like to be a museum curator. My patrons also got to hear what she likes to read and what she’s currently reading.
A Brighter Dawn by Leslie Gould
“Incredibly well-researched, thoroughly enjoyable, and singularly original.”–SHELLEY SHEPARD GRAY, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
“A beautiful story of love, loss, and the bonds that connect a family to its faith.”–SUZANNE WOODS FISHER, bestselling author of A Season on the Wind
Ivy Zimmerman is successfully navigating her life as a young Mennonite woman, one generation removed from her parents’ Old Order Amish upbringing. But when her parents are killed in a tragic accident, Ivy’s way of life is upended.
As she deals with her grief, her younger sisters’ needs, the relationship with her boyfriend, and her Dawdi and Mammi’s strict rules, Ivy finds solace in both an upcoming trip to Germany for an international Mennonite youth gathering and in her great-great-aunt’s story about Clare Simons, another young woman who visited Germany in the late 1930s.
As Ivy grows suspicious that her parents’ deaths weren’t, in fact, an accident, she gains courage from what she learns of Clare’s time in pre-World War II Germany. With the encouragement and inspiration of the women who have gone before her, Ivy seeks justice for her parents, her sisters, and herself.
Get a copy of A Brighter Dawn.
Find out more about Leslie Gould:
My strongest memories from childhood include stories of hope and grace—and how those stories connected me to family and friends. I also soaked up stories of redemption in the small-town churches we attended.
Even though I knew I wanted to write fiction by the time I was in the sixth grade, as I grew older I pursued other things, such as majoring in history and communications, working as a museum curator, then as a public relations specialist, and finally as a magazine editor. Once I finally started writing fiction, it was another ten years until I sold my first novel. Soon after, I received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, which allowed me to teach writing at a local university besides writing novels full-time.
I’ve written a large collection of dual-time, Amish, and contemporary novels, set in a variety of places—from the Pacific Northwest to Amish Country to France to Vietnam.
My husband, Peter, and I have been married forty years and have four adult children and one grandchild. We live in Portland, Oregon and enjoy traveling, urban hikes, and hanging out with family and friends!
