Cindy Woodsmall

Cindy Woodsmall is an American author best known for Christian fiction centred on Amish and Mennonite communities. A New York Times and CBA bestselling writer, she draws upon longstanding personal connections with Plain families, including friendships formed with Mennonite and Old Order Amish women. These relationships have informed her treatment of faith, family, courtship, work and communal expectations, while her novels often examine the tension between individual choice and the responsibilities imposed by tradition. She has also co-written the nonfiction book Plain Wisdom: An Invitation into an Amish Home and the Hearts of Two Women with her Old Order Amish friend Miriam Flaud.

Woodsmall’s debut, When the Heart Cries, opened the Sisters of the Quilt trilogy, which follows Hannah Lapp through personal trauma, estrangement and questions of religious identity. Her other major series include Ada’s House, Amish Vines and Orchards, and The Amish of Summer Grove, while novels such as A Love Undone and The Englisch Daughter explore marriage, forgiveness and conflicts between Amish life and the wider world. She has also written Christmas novellas and time-slip fiction, including Yesterday’s Gone and Until Then. Although her books are primarily contemporary rather than historical fiction, they provide detailed fictional portrayals of enduring religious customs and rural communities whose way of life preserves practices rooted in earlier centuries.