Welcome to the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! If you’ve just discovered the hunt, be sure to start at Stop #1, and collect the clues through all the stops, in order, so you can enter to win one of our top 5 grand prizes!

• The hunt BEGINS on 6/15 at noon MST with Stop #1 at LisaTawnBergren.com.
• Hunt through our loop using Chrome or Firefox as your browser (not Explorer).
• There is NO RUSH to complete the hunt—you have all weekend (until Sunday, 6/18 at midnight MST)! So take your time, reading the unique posts along the way; our hope is that you discover new authors/new books and learn new things about them.
• Submit your entry for the grand prizes by collecting the CLUE on each author’s scavenger hunt post and submitting your answer in the Rafflecopter form at the final stop, back on Lisa’s site. Many authors are offering additional prizes along the way!

If you’re new in these parts, let me introduce myself: I’m Kim Vogel Sawyer, a Kansas girl through and through. I write predominantly historical fiction, although there are some contemporary women’s fiction titles (many featuring Old Order Mennonite characters) and a young adult series on my list. I love putting the people in my head on paper and sharing them with readers! When I’m not writing or hanging out with family, you’ll find me petting cats, eating chocolate, or packing Operation Christmas Child boxes.

But as I said, I’m predominantly a historical fiction writer, and my latest release is The Tapestry of Grace (you can read all about it here). Research is a big part of writing historical fiction. Every now and then, it serves a purpose beyond gathering information for the current project; it can provide the story seed for a new project. Such was the case for The Tapestry of Grace.

While searching for a German newspaper the characters from Still My Forever could read, I came upon an article in Die Deutsche Frauen-Zeitung (a German language newspaper founded in 1852 in Milwaukee) about the original Frauenverein (German-American women’s club), which was established in New York City in 1844. It was begun by members of St. Matthew’s Church as a charitable organization providing relief to widows and orphans. Initially, the benevolence was offered to members of its own congregation, but eventually the ladies began reaching out to others in the community—especially to new arrivals in America who’d suffered loss while making the journey from Europe. Over time, the idea spread across the country in cities with a strong German influence. There were a number of German-speaking immigrants who came to Kansas from Russia in search of religious freedom, so it isn’t surprising that the idea of a benevolence society focused on widows and orphans (see James 1:27) found its way to America’s Heartland.

By the late 1800s, the time period for The Tapestry of Grace, other types of women’s groups formed under the title “Frauenverein,” including book clubs, sewing groups, and even a “Koffee Klatch” or two! This image is a meet-for-coffee-and-conversation Frauenverein in Thomas County, Kansas, in 1916 (image from the Kansas State Historical Society website). Whether they met in a church, on a porch, or in someone’s home, the ladies no doubt enjoyed their time of fellowship.

While the women of the Alexandertol Frauenverein in my fictional tale mean well (for the most part *wink*), sometimes the best intentions can go awry. Which makes for good story fodder. But you’ll have to read the book to fully understand my meaning.

Thanks so much for popping by my website on the Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt! Please visit my Facebook Page to stay up-to-date with my writing—I love communicating with readers there.

Here’s Your Critical Stop #24 Info:
If you’re interested, you can order The Tapestry of Grace on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBook or at your local bookstore!
Clue to write down: porch, or in
Link to Stop #25: Elizabeth Goddard’s site!