A Heartbeat Away

By S. Dionne Moore

Description:

When a band of runaway slaves brings Union-loyal Beth Bumgartner a wounded Confederate soldier named Joe, it is the catalyst that pushes her to defy her pacifist parents and become a nurse during the Battle of Antietam.

Her mother's mysterious goodbye gift is filled with quilt blocks that bring comfort to Beth during the hard days and lonely nights, but as she sews each block, she realizes there is a hidden message of faith within the pattern that encourages and sustains her. Beth learns Joe's secret and together they put the quilt's message to its greatest test—but can betrayal be forgiven?

Why the author wrote this book:

I wrote this book to explore the turmoil that was the Battle of Antietam. Within Sharpsburg, there were many families who were pacifists at that time. For these people to be thrown right into the eye of the Civil War piqued my interest and I wondered what a young girl, itching to be away from home and follow in her brother's war service by becoming a nurse, would do when faced with nursing a soldier who was the enemy.