I’M RUNNING A GIVEAWAY OF SARAH’S BOOKS. SEE BELOW . . .

Comment below for a chance to win an ebook or paperback of your choice.

I’m so grateful to my endorsers and their kind words about The Broken Weathervane (September 2, 2025). In thanks, I’m featuring each of them and their books on the blog over the few months.

Back to Sarah . . . 

You don’t have to live in the South to enjoy Sarah Loudin Thomas’s Southern fiction. I’m a Midwest gal myself. But due to time spent in the Smokies of western North Carolina in the 1970s and ’80s which led to writing my novel All That Is Hidden, I developed a fondness for stories set in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Sarah has been a guest on my Standout Stories blog twice. My introduction to Sarah’s novels was The Finder of Forgotten Things (published 2021). A middle-aged teacher, a middle-aged post-mistress, and a dowser on the run comprise this tale surrounding the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster in 1930s West Virginia. I’d never heard of this USA disaster before reading this story.

I was intrigued to read The Right Kind of Fool (published 2020) because of the deaf character. The way Sarah effectively incorporated this thirteen-year-old deaf mute into the story blew me away. The boy is the only witness to a murder in West Virginia, 1934. Additionally, his father re-enters the family, trying to win his wife and son’s trust. Mystery entwines with challenging family dynamics.

Comment below to be entered in the giveaway for the book of your choice!

Blurb for The Finder of Forgotten Things (Bethany House Publishers, 2021)

It’s one thing to say you can find what people need–it’s another to actually do it.

It’s 1932 and Sullivan Harris is on the run. An occasionally successful dowser, he promised the people of Kline, West Virginia, that he would find them water. But when wells turned up dry, he disappeared with their cash just a step or two ahead of Jeremiah Weber, who was elected to run him down.

Postmistress Gainey Floyd is suspicious of Sulley’s abilities when he appears in her town but reconsiders after new wells fill with sweet water. Rather, it’s Sulley who grows uneasy when his success makes folks wonder if he can find more than water–like forgotten items or missing people. He lights out to escape such expectations and runs smack into something worse.

Hundreds of men have found jobs digging the Hawks Nest Tunnel–but what they thought was a blessing is killing them. And no one seems to care. Here, Sulley finds something new–a desire to help. With it, he becomes an unexpected catalyst, bringing Jeremiah and Gainey together to find what even he has forgotten: hope.

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Blurb for The Right Kind of Fool (Bethany House Publishers, 2022)

Thirteen-year-old Loyal Raines is supposed to stay close to home on a hot summer day in 1934. When he slips away for a quick swim in the river and finds a dead body, he wishes he’d obeyed his mother. The ripples caused by his discovery will impact the town of Beverly, West Virginia, in ways no one could have imagined.

The first person those ripples disturb is Loyal’s absentee father. When Creed Raines realized his infant son was deaf, he headed for the hills, returning only to help meet his family’s basic needs. But when Loyal, now a young teen, stumbles upon a murder it’s his father he runs to tell–shaping the words with his hands. As Creed is pulled into the investigation he discovers that what sets his son apart isn’t his inability to hear but rather his courage. Longing to reclaim the life he abandoned, Creed will have to do more than help solve a murder if he wants to win his family’s hearts again.

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Excerpt of Q & A from The Finder of Lost Things

What inspired you to write a story that includes the 1932 Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster? How did you initially hear about it? 

Sarah: I’m a WV girl currently living in NC, so I drive past the turnoff to Hawks Nest each time I go home. It’s near the New River Gorge Bridge—a REALLY high, REALLY long bridge that kind of freaks me out. I discovered that I could avoid driving over the bridge by taking the long way through the gorge. It’s also a really beautiful detour and I enjoyed stopping at the Hawks Nest overlook—where I read those white historic marker signs. I was intrigued and astonished to learn about such a horrific tragedy that seemed essentially unknown. And I wanted to tell people about it.

What is your personal connection to the setting? 

Sarah: The farm I grew up on in WV has been in our family for eight generations now. I’m generation number seven and my niece is number eight. I’m hoping she’ll pass the land (and the stories) on down! We’ve been rooted in these mountains since before the Civil War. I’ve been steeped in Appalachia since before I was born and want to share the bittersweet beauty of my favorite place with as many people as possible!

What intrigues you most about this time period? What elements (besides the Hawks Nest Tunnel) did you want to include from the get-go? What kind of research was involved? 

Sarah: I didn’t set out to write stories set during the Great Depression. I mean, who does that? Well, Kristin Hannah, but that puts me in good company. The historical event dictated the time period and what I appreciated as I researched it was that—while times were hard—I don’t think they were quite so bleak in WV as they were in the dust bowl of the prairies. Times had been hard. They were still hard. And people knew how to live off the land. West Virginians have a fiercely independent streak tempered with a well-honed sense of humor. I hope I captured that! This was the first time I offered a list of books for additional reading at the end of the novel. There’s excellent information about the tunnel disaster for anyone who wants to dig deeper.

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Excerpt of Q & A from The Right Kind of Fool

What was your inspiration for writing The Right Kind of Fool, particularly with a deaf boy as a major character? What’s your personal connection to the setting or situation?

Sarah: I was researching a completely different story about an unsolved murder from the 1930s. When I came to a note that the body was discovered by a “deaf mute boy,” I was suddenly off and running. What would it have been like to be deaf in 1930s West Virigina? How would he have told about the murder? How did people treat him? 

I found another note about the trial that said he did, indeed testify, “using hand signs.” Well. I couldn’t resist that. Plus, my second grade teacher, Lee Lashley, taught us the basics of ASL and I was smitten by this notion of talking with my hands. (Which I do anyway!)

What unusual thing did you do or discover while researching for this story? Did you already know a lot about sign language? What about criminal investigations in West Virginia in 1934? 

Sarah: I think the most interesting tidbit was that forensic ballistics was just beginning to be used as a tool in crimes involving guns. Once I read that, I knew I had to work it in with Virgil finding the bullet at the crime scene. 

As for ASL, I did have a really basic foundation and thought I’d just go ahead and learn some more. Hello. It’s HARD. I can recognize a sign now and again when watching an interpreter, but those versed in it sign FAST. And my brain can’t keep up. 

One of the things that was important to me was to reveal some of the misconceptions about people who are deaf or profoundly hard of hearing. Like—it’s HARD to read lips. Even when people are good at it, it takes tons of concentration and focus. Plus, people do things like turn away or put their hands in front of their mouths. Also, talking louder doesn’t help. Just like talking slower doesn’t help and can even make it harder for a lip reader. 

So often, hearing people have thought that deaf people should learn to speak aloud. Or, these days, to use technology to help them hear. There are many people in the deaf community who don’t see their inability to hear as a disability. And they can communicate just fine. 

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Comment below to be entered in the giveaway for the book of your choice!

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I read These Tangled Threads last year. Having visited the Biltmore Estate years ago, the setting was particularly intriguing to me. Three main timelines are expertly entwined into the story. This book was a Selah Awards finalist for 2024.

Last month I read These Blue Mountains and was completely swept up in Hedda’s story. Several fascinating story strands are woven together—a son missing in action, a coffin with the wrong body, a deputy who stretches his limits, and a German woman searching for her fiancé in North Carolina—all while Hitler is rising to power in Germany. I was thoroughly engaged and invested in these people’s lives!

Blurb for These Tangled Threads—Friendship and Secrets set in 1920s Blue Ridge Mountains (2024)

Set in the shadow of Biltmore Estate, a poignant tale of friendship, restoration, and second chances.

Seven years ago, a hidden betrayal scattered three young friends living in the shadow of the great Vanderbilt mansion. Now, when Biltmore Industries master weaver Lorna Blankenship is commissioned to create an original design for Cornelia Vanderbilt’s 1924 wedding, she panics knowing she doesn’t have the creativity needed. But there’s an elusive artisan in the Blue Ridge Mountains who could save her–if only she knew where to begin.

To track down the mysterious weaver, Lorna sees no other way than to seek out the relationships she abandoned in shame. As she pulls at each tangled thread from her past, Lorna is forced to confront the wounds and regrets of life long ago. She’ll have to risk the job that shapes her identity, as well as the hope of friendship–and love—restored.

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Blurb for These Blue Mountains (July 2025)

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness (set in the 1930s)

German pianist Hedda Schlagel’s world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda is stunned to see Fritz’s name in a photograph of an American memorial for German seamen who died near Asheville, North Carolina. Determined to reclaim his body and bring closure to his ailing mother, Hedda travels to the US. Her quest takes a shocking turn when, rather than Fritz’s body, his casket contains the remains of a woman who died under mysterious circumstances.

Local deputy Garland Jones thought he’d left that dark chapter behind when he helped bury Fritz Meyer’s coffin. The unexpected arrival of Hedda, a long-suffering yet captivating woman, forces him to confront how much of the truth he really knows. As they work together to uncover the identity of the woman in the casket and to unravel Fritz’s fate, Hedda and Garland grow closer. But with Hedda in the US on borrowed time while Hitler rises to power in Germany, she fears she’ll be forced to return home before she can put the ghosts of her past to rest.

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Coming soon —on May 5, 2026—order your copy now!

Blurb for These Empty Places— A Southern Fiction Historical Novel About Second Chances Set in the Appalachian Mountains

Claire Roth sacrificed love for a life of comfort on Lake Toxaway–until the dam broke, and the lake washed down the side of the mountain. Fourteen years later, she longs to see the lake restored to its former glory even as the country faces hard economic times on the eve of the Great Depression. 

Socialite Lena Hawkins married her first love, who swept her off her feet after skyrocketing from rags to riches by speculating in the stock market. Now penniless and rejected by her family, Lena and her husband have arrived at Lake Toxaway for a new beginning. There, Lena forms an unexpected connection with Claire, who hires her to assist with the personal library Claire is building to provide jobs and education for a struggling community. When Claire is given a second chance at love and Lena a tempting chance at wealth, both women must release the past to fill tomorrow with promise. 

Sarah Loudin Thomas brings the history of North Carolina to life in a rich literary story of friendship, love, and letting go.

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Comment below to be entered in the giveaway for the book of your choice!

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Here are some older books by Sarah, also from Bethany House Publishers.

Appalachian Blessings—series of 3 + a novella

• Appalachian Serenade, a novella (2014)
• Miracle in a Dry Season (2014)
• Until the Harvest (2015)
• A Tapestry of Secrets (2016)

Blurb for Miracle in a Dry Season (2014 debut novel)

In a Drought, It’s the Darkest Cloud That Brings Hope

It’s 1954 and Perla Long’s arrival in the sleepy town of Wise, West Virginia, was supposed to go unnoticed. She just wants a quiet, safe place for her and her daughter, Sadie, where the mistakes of her past can stay hidden. But then drought comes to Wise, and Perla is pulled into the turmoil of a town desperately in need of a miracle.

Casewell Phillips has resigned himself to life as a bachelor…until he meets Perla. She’s everything he’s sought in a woman, but he can’t get past the sense that she’s hiding something. As the drought worsens, Perla’s unique gift divides the town in two, bringing both gratitude and condemnation, and placing the pair in the middle of a storm of anger and forgiveness, fear and faith.

Wonderful, simply wonderful. A story of love, healing, and forgiveness sure to grip the heart of every reader.
~ Debbie Macomber, New York Times #1 bestselling author

Blurb for The Sound of Rain (2017)

Judd Markley is a hardworking coal miner who rarely thinks much past tomorrow until he loses his brother–and nearly his own life–in a mine cave-in. Vowing never to enter the darkness of a mine again, he leaves all he knows in West Virginia to escape to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It’s 1954, the seaside community is thriving, and Judd soon hires on with a timber company.

Larkin Heyward’s life in Myrtle Beach is uncomplicated, mostly doing volunteer work and dancing at the Pavilion. But she dreams of one day doing more–maybe moving to the hollers of Kentucky to help the poor children of Appalachia. But she’s never even met someone who’s lived there–until she encounters Judd, the newest employee at her father’s timber company.

Drawn together in the wake of a devastating hurricane, Judd and Larkin each seek answers to what tomorrow will bring. As opposition rises against following their divergent dreams, they realize that it may take a miracle for them to be together.

Collections with other authors:

• With All My Heart Romance Collection by Sarah Loudin Thomas, Karen Witemeyer, Jody Hedlund, Melissa Jagears, & Jen Turano (2016)

• The Christmas Heirloom—Four Holiday Novellas by Sarah Loudin Thomas, Karen Witemeyer, Kristi Ann Hunter, & Becky Wade (2018)

• A Shot at Love, a novella in The Christmas Heirloom collection (2019)

Comment below to be entered in the giveaway for the book of your choice!

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Back to Laura . . . On a similar note . . . 

If you like Southern fiction and small town/rural stories about family dynamics and secrets, you might enjoy my novel All That Is Hidden. Set near North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains in 1968, the story spotlights the bond of family and the connections of a tight-knit community. Northern exploitation threatens as a father’s hidden past catches up to him and tests family ties. Learn more and watch the trailer here.

All That Is Hidden is now an audiobook! 

If you like dual timeline fiction about family dynamics in a small town Midwest (Wisconsin) setting, try The Broken Weathervane (launched September 2, 2025 by Scrivenings Press). Two co-workers seek the same information. One wants to publish it; the other has good reasons to keep it hidden. The timeline alternates between 2015 and the 1950s. Check out the reviews and book trailer here. Sarah endorsed this!

If you like historical fiction, you might enjoy A Hundred Magical Reasons (launched January 7, 2025 by Scrivenings Press). This story spotlights L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, his friendship with a young girl, and his impact through the decades. Set in Holland, Michigan, this dual timeline novel alternates between 1980 and the early 1900s. Read more and watch the book trailer here. 

I invite you to join my monthly newsletter for writing updates, freebies, and giveaways. Sign up and I’ll send you 7 Oz-inspired recipes: A-Taste-Of-Oz-Cookbook-Sampler.com 

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Sarah Loudin Thomas bio:

Sarah Loudin Thomas grew up on a 100-acre farm in French Creek, WV, the seventh generation to live there. Her Christian fiction is set in West Virginia and celebrates the people, the land, and the heritage of Appalachia.

Sarah is the director of Jan Karon’s Mitford Museum in Hudson, NC. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Coastal Carolina University and is the author of the acclaimed novels The Right Kind of Fool–winner of the 2021 Selah Book of the Year–and Miracle in a Dry Season–winner of the 2015 Inspy Award. Sarah has also been a finalist for the Christy Award, ACFW Carol Award, and the Christian Book of the Year Award. She and her husband live in western North Carolina. Visit her website here. 

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Join me next time for a visit with author Jane Kirkpatrick.

Meanwhile, have you read any of Sarah Loudin Thomas’s novels or other Southern fiction you’ve enjoyed? 

Answer in the comments below to be entered in the giveaway!

Ever reading,

Laura

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and receive 7 free Oz-inspired recipes and a prequel to All That Is Hidden: A-Taste-Of-Oz-Cookbook-Sampler.com