“It shouldn’t surprise him that she quilted. And helped run the library. And made dresses. And tried to find him a wife. No wonder she was short of breath sometimes — she never slowed down.” BusyMatchmaker Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“The moment the spoon clinked the bottom of the bowl, she grabbed the bowl and filled it back up to the brim. “Eat, eat!” He was feeling full to the brim himself, but he thought it likely that if he dared to stop before the bowl was empty again, she would seize the spoon and feed him like an infant. He made his way manfully through.” FoodJewish MotherMaternal Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“I remember that story. You have read it four times." Samson shrugged. "Why should I stop with the first reading? Nobody says, 'That was a fine piece of music. I'll never listen to that again." But some people treat books that way. Not I!” HumorFunnyReadingBooks Book:Twin-Bred Source: Twin-Bred
“He had brought his bone saw in its leather case. And his white linen smock, the one he used to save his clothes when he had dirty work in store, and would have Li Chang wash and bleach after. An amputation would be the dirtiest work there was. He remembered the smocks the surgeons wore, layer on layer of red, dried blood darker under fresh red splashes, with the occasional white splinter of bone. Joshua prayed as he rode, prayed hard and desperately, prayed that the smock in his bag would be clean and white when he turned homeward.” WarHistoricalCivil WarSurgeryDoctorCasualtiesAmputation Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“He staggered and might have toppled sideways if Clara had not been there, grabbing his arm and steadying him. He turned toward her and saw her read, and then reflect, the anguish in his face. Her grip on his arm went from support to a more frantic clutch. She said under her breath, “You can get through this.” And after a long, shaky breath: “I’ll get you through it.” But her hand was trembling on his arm.” SurgeryPtsdAmputationHistorical Medicine Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“He kept eating, with a stubborn determination like something in a dream, until he heard the door open and close again. There was still some soup in the bowl. He set it on the floor for Major, let his head fall into his hands, and sobbed like a broken-hearted child. Or like a young man, barely more than a boy, waking up with only half a leg.” TraumaSurgeryDoctorAmputationHistorical Medicine Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“She leaned against the wall and looked down at him, shaking her head. “Out in all hours and all weather, and he comes home to nothing!” Joshua shrugged. He had a good idea where this was going. “So where’s Mrs. Doctor? You need to get married!” RomanceMatchmakingJewish MotherBachelorYenta Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“Now do you want me to give you something that’ll help you, or would you rather move into the outhouse and try to shoe horses there?” DoctorDoctors And PatientsDoctoringMedical Advice Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“Joshua took a gulp of his own brew. “Need I have some other cause, when this plague could devastate so many of my patients and neighbors? When, if some of the reports prove true, we might see the town reduced painfully in size, as farmers abandon their holdings and flee to the East?” If the thought of one particular family leaving town, of Clara Brook’s tall figure climbing aboard a wagon and vanishing beyond the horizon, gave him a peculiar twinge, he was hardly obliged to say so.” Historical RomanceNebraskaAmerican WestGrasshopper Plague Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“Joshua levered himself out of bed. He’d shave, get dressed, and take a walk with Major before frying himself some breakfast. As a boy, if he could have even imagined himself so old as thirty-three, he’d have assumed he’d be leaving a wife behind staying warm in bed or making breakfast, or better yet, accompanying him on his morning amble. But things change. War changes them. And solitude suited him, these days.” SolitaryVeteranPtsdHistorical RomanceTraumatized Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“All through his childhood, he had wished he had brothers instead of, or in addition to, three sisters. That wish, too, had died in the war.” WarGriefVeteranBereavementSiblingsBrothers Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart
“Joshua awoke, sat up slowly, and looked around the railroad car. No ghosts, no trauma, nothing but Clara sleeping in apparent peace in the berth below him, and curtains growing bright with morning light.” VeteranPtsdHistorical Romance Book:What Heals the Heart Source: What Heals the Heart