Then Sings My Soul (21 page)

ABOUT THE TITLE AND COVER

When I converse with readers, a common question is how book titles and cover designs are determined. For my first novel,
How Sweet the Sound
, lyrics to the song “Amazing Grace” appear in one of the chapters. Not only is it one of my favorite hymns, but the phrase “how sweet the sound” made the editor and me misty-eyed enough to know it was destined to be the title of that book.

Then Sings My Soul
was a bit more of a challenge. Although it is a phrase from “How Great Thou Art”—also one of my favorite hymns—I was hesitant to use it because there isn't much reference to the actual song within this novel. However, I believe it truly captures the theme of the novel. Moreover, once I heard the story behind the hymn, I knew “Then Sings My Soul” had to be the title. Stuart Hine, an English missionary to Ukraine, stumbled upon the Russian text for “How Great Thou Art” and translated it into English. His travels and missionary work across Eastern Europe, and the beauty of the Carpathian Mountains, prompted him to write the hymn's fourth and final stanza. Indeed, the entire hymn speaks to the steadfast, enduring beauty of God and His faithfulness to us throughout the ages—a truth that Jakob eventually realizes.

All of the credit for cover design goes to the amazing graphic artists at David C Cook. However,
Then Sings My Soul
was a bit unique. The designers came up with the cover pretty much as it appears here, but initially they didn't know where they would be able to find a usable graphic for the blue gemstone. Although I had access to the thousands of gemstones faceted by my grandfather, the stone featured on the cover was discovered in a plastic bag tucked in a corner of a manila file folder that was stuffed in a binder full of faceting designs. The only reason the folder even caught my eye was because it was marked “Star of David,” which of course was a wonderfully perfect match for this story.

The actual Star of David stone my grandfather designed and faceted appears on the cover.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy, an Indianapolis native and graduate of DePauw University, lives in central Indiana with her husband, her three boys, and a gaggle of golden retrievers.

After writing and editing for her college newspaper, Amy combined the knowledge from her nursing degree with journalism and creative writing. This unique combination of skills led to her editing and publishing a wide array of medical and nursing multimedia and writing projects over the past twenty-one years, including a weekly column for a local newspaper.

Amy has since become a two-time semifinalist for the ACFW Genesis Awards and the winner of the 2011 Women of Faith writing contest.

When she's not reading or writing, Amy enjoys spending time with her husband and three sons, walking her dogs, digging in her garden sans gloves, and up-cycling old junk.

SUGGESTED FOR FURTHER READING

A lot of research went into this novel, and like me, you might be interested in reading more about some of the themes in this book. Listed below are the names of books that I found to be both helpful and interesting.

Eastern European/Ukrainian History

• •
  The Golden Age Shtetl: A New History of Jewish Life in East Europe
  by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern
  
• •
  Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof
  by Alisa Solomon
  
• •
  Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine
  by Anna Reid
  
• •
  Forgotten Fire
  by Adam Bagdasarian
  
• •
  The Chosen
  by Chaim Potok
  
• •
  Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine
  by Omer Bartov
  

Lapidary Arts

• •
  Gem Cutting: A Lapidary's Manual
  2nd edition, by John Sinkankas
  
• •
  Smithsonian Handbooks: Rocks and Minerals
  by Chris Pellant
  

Aging and Dementia

• •
  Still Alice
  by Lisa Genova
  
• •
  No Act of Love Is Ever Wasted: The Spirituality of Caring for Persons with Dementia
  by Jane Marie Thibault and Richard L. Morgan
  
• •
  Not Alone: Encouragement for Caregivers
  by Nell E. Noonan
  

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To all those who made this book what it is through your support, encouragement, patience, wisdom, and expertise: Sarah Freese, who did triple duty as my agent, editor, and therapist for this project; Nicci Jordan Hubert and Jennifer Lonas for your incredible, patient (but fierce!) editing and encouragement; and to Don Pape and John Blase for the chance to write this book in the first place. And to all the professionals at David C Cook for making it happen.

To Robert Vukovich and his assistant, Mary, for spending an entire evening capturing the photograph of my grandfather's gemstone for this cover.

To Sergei Marchenko, for early read-throughs and gracious help with the Ukrainian language elements, and to Becky Gluff, also for help with the Ukrainian language.

To Jon Lieberman, for your time and invaluable input into the Jewish aspects of this story, and for encouraging me to research my Ukrainian family history.

To Dr. Ken Ney and Jill Kendrat and everyone who helped me travel to Zhytomyr and Chudniv, Ukraine, in January 2013, thank you for not taking no for an answer! And to all the people of Mission to Ukraine (
www.missiontoukraine.org
) on both sides of the Atlantic:
я тебе люблю.

To Pastor Peter Levchenko for your legacy of unwavering faith in the midst of dark and seemingly unreachable places. I miss your smile and laughter.

To Peter Predchuk—I can't wait to see you running in heaven.

To Grandpa Joe, whose hard work and storytelling “faceted” my life.

To my great-great-grandparents, who survived and escaped the pogroms so that your children, and now my children, could live freely.

And to Scott, Tucker, Charlie, and Isaac: my soul sings because of each of you.

THEN SINGS MY SOUL

Published by David C Cook

4050 Lee Vance View

Colorado Springs, CO 80918 U.S.A.

David C Cook Distribution Canada

55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5

David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications

Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England

The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook.

All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes,

no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form

without written permission from the publisher.

This story is a work of fiction. Characters and events are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Scripture quotations marked
NKJV
are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

LCCN 2014948815

ISBN 978-1-4347-0545-7

eISBN 978-1-4347-0893-9

© 2015 Amy Sorrells

The author is represented by and this book is published in association with the

literary agency of WordServe Literary Group, Ltd., www.wordserveliterary.com.

The Team: John Blase, Nicci Hubert, Amy Konyndyk, Nick Lee, Jennifer Lonas, Tiffany Thomas, Karen Athen

Cover Design: Faceout Studio, Emily Weigel

Cover Photos: Shutterstock and Robert J. Vukovich (stone photo)

First Edition 2015

Photo by Christie Turnbull

Amy K. Sorrells,
the award-winning author of the novel
How Sweet the Sound
, writes about the healing of broken places in the world and the heart. Her passion is reflected in her work as a registered nurse as well as through her poetry and prose. Amy lives with her husband and three sons in central Indiana.

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DCCeBooks.com
for more great reads.