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Jolina Petersheim

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.jolinapetersheim.com/

Twitter

Jolina_Joy

Genre

Fiction

Influences

(or favorite authors) Donna Tartt, Elizabeth Strout, Paulette Jiles, M ...more

Member Since

August 2012

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jolina_joy

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Jolina Petersheim is the highly acclaimed author of How the Light Gets In, The Divide, The Alliance, The Midwife, and The Outcast, which Library Journal called "outstanding . . . fresh and inspirational" in a starred review and named one of the best books of 2013. That book also became an ECPA, CBA, and Amazon bestseller and was featured in Huffington Post's Fall Picks, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and the Tennessean. CBA Retailers + Resources called her second book, The Midwife, "an excellent read [that] will be hard to put down," and Booklist selected The Alliance as one of their Top 10 Inspirational Fiction Titles for 2016. The Alliance was also a finalist for the 2017 Christy Award in the Visionary category. The sequel to The Alliance, ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Jolina Petersheim I guess you could say I had a slightly different childhood. When I was six and my brother ten, our family stood in a field on the camp where my parent…moreI guess you could say I had a slightly different childhood. When I was six and my brother ten, our family stood in a field on the camp where my parents were caretakers, and my parents told us that this was where we would meet if we were separated when the world “blew up.” From this field, our family would travel by foot to our friends’ elaborate, fairytale home and live in the blue room hidden behind their bookshelves.

My parents in no way meant to instill fear in us. Now that I’m a parent, I see that they were trying to assuage their own fears by coming up with a plan. But I was born with an overactive imagination, and therefore this plan planted in me the seed of fear—and, subsequently, a driving need to control my environment.

I wish I could say I uprooted this fear once I became an adult, but after I had my firstborn daughter, my fear grew worse, for not only did I have to control my environment; I also had to control hers.

When my eldest was six months old, an unnerving exchange with a logger caused my fear to deepen its roots and for me to ask myself whether I would ever use lethal force to protect myself and my family. I believed I would, even though, growing up, I sensed that my own father would adhere to his pacifist heritage if placed in such a situation.

The final puzzle piece for my book, The Alliance, slid into place when my father told us that we needed heirloom seeds to last us until the next harvest season. I remember standing in my darkened kitchen and repeating that phrase to myself—The Harvest Season.

Initially, I believed this would be the title of the book, but over time, I knew a community having enough food to last until the next harvest season was only a small element of the story. The larger element came from the protagonist, Leora Ebersole’s driving need to control her environment, even after society crumbles around her, because if she controls her environment, she believes she will be able to keep her orphaned family safe.

With every one of my books, God’s been faithful to allow me to experience some portion of whatever topic I’m addressing. The Alliance is no exception. My family and I moved from Tennessee to Wisconsin shortly before I finished the rough draft. Eight weeks later, my husband went in for a CAT scan, which revealed a tumor near his brain stem. He had surgery the next morning, and all through that night next to his hospital bed, I feared for my family.

I feared for our two young daughters—two-and-a-half and four months at the time. I feared that I would be a widow, living on a grid-tie solar-powered farm six-hundred miles away from our immediate families. In a matter of hours, one of my worst fears had come true, and I didn’t know how to handle it.

However, all through my Garden of Gethsemane night, during the hours my husband was in surgery, and the critical weeks that followed the craniotomy, I felt God’s presence as if he was sitting beside me. I then understood that God had allowed me to face one of my greatest fears so that I would learn that inner peace can never be acquired through my futile attempts to control my environment—and therefore keep my family safe. Moreover, I can only achieve inner peace if I continually surrender my life and the lives of my family to the One who called us into being.

So I pray, dear reader, that you will discover the author of the peace that passes all understanding and daily surrender your life—and the lives of your family—to him.

“Finally, an apocalyptic novel ablaze with hope. Just the kind of story I champion. A must-read.” ~ Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Mapmaker’s Children and The Baker’s Daughter

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Hi Jolina, I'm not sure if you remember but you were so lovely to speak via Skype to my Senior Book Group in Mead, Colorado. I look forward to your new book next summer! What are you reading now and do you have any recommendations on books you have loved that I could pass onto my book group? Thanks so much, Beth Ann Goodwill p.s. They still speak about your visit with us as their favorite book club of the year!!

Jolina Petersheim Hi, Beth Ann!

So good to hear from you. I also loved getting to chat with your wonderful book club, and I hope we can repeat that conversation after T…moreHi, Beth Ann!

So good to hear from you. I also loved getting to chat with your wonderful book club, and I hope we can repeat that conversation after The Alliance's June release! I have recently really enjoyed The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and I feel it would make for a great book club discussion, as it revolves around two sisters who are struggling to survive during WWII in Nazi-occupied France. I also recommend Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. It's a little bit of a slower read, but the imagery is beautiful! Hope this helps. Thanks for connecting.

Hugs,
Jolina(less)

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Jolina Petersheim’s books

Average rating: 3.96 · 6,252 ratings · 1,333 reviews · 9 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Outcast: A Modern Retelling of The Scarlet Letter 3.93 avg rating — 2,070 ratings — published 2013 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Midwife 3.93 avg rating — 1,490 ratings — published 2014 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How the Light Gets in 4.13 avg rating — 1,367 ratings — published 2019 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Alliance (The Alliance #1) 3.70 avg rating — 877 ratings — published 2016 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Divide (The Alliance #2) 4.18 avg rating — 398 ratings — published 2017 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	When You Pass Through Waters: Words of Hope and Healing from Your Favorite Authors by Nicole Seitz (Goodreads Author) (Editor/Contributor), Lisa Wingate (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Fred Bassett (Contributor) 4.32 avg rating — 25 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	How the Light Gets In, SAMPLE 4.11 avg rating — 18 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Jolina Petersheim 2-in-1 Collection: The Outcast / The Midwife 4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Alliance #1-2 3.75 avg rating — 4 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Jolina Petersheim's Blog

What Kind of Eighty-Year-Old Do You Want to Be?

This week, a family member went through a traumatic medical event that hit very close to home. My husband and I talked in the kitchen after the girls were in bed, and I asked how we can possibly keep our hearts open and alive when faced with such pain, for the older we get, the more we lose, and the pain of such loss only compounds with the years.

On Wednesday, I was writing at a bistro table acros

Series by Jolina Petersheim

The Alliance (2 books)
by

Jolina Petersheim (Goodreads Author)

3.85 avg rating — 1,279 ratings

Jolina is Currently Reading

Jolina Petersheim is currently reading

Enemy Women

by Paulette Jiles (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jolina Petersheim said: " Paulette Jiles is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. This was my second novel of hers to finish, and though it didn't entrance me like News of the World, I did find myself savoring the language and being in awe of the level of research such ...more "

Oct 08, 2019 10:14AM · see review

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Jolina’s Recent Updates

Jolina Petersheim is now friends with Craig Smith
May 16, 2022 01:07PM · like

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Quotes by Jolina Petersheim (?)

“I encourage anyone who has gone through hardships to look back through their life’s chapters and see what can be turned into a book. For you never know what heartache God, one day, can turn into a redemptive story.”
― Jolina Petersheim

tags: biography, god, hardships, heartache, inspirational, memoir, redemption, shunning

17 likes

“Sometimes it is necessary to celebrate life, despite being faced with defeat and death.”
― Jolina Petersheim, The Alliance

tags: celebrate, death, defeat, life

2 likes

“For, yes, absence did make the heart grow fonder, but then, after a while, that shield of self-preservation grew thicker, and the heart forsook fondness for survival and all-consuming love for getting by.”
― Jolina Petersheim, How the Light Gets In

0 likes

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Polls

This is the poll for September's Book of the Month - the book with the most votes will be the Group Read, and the book with the second most votes will be the Group Buddy Read.

Engaged in Trouble by Jenny B. Jones

Engaged in Trouble (Enchanted Events #1) by Jenny B. Jones

7 votes 30.4%

The Lost Heiress by Roseanna M. White

The Lost Heiress (Ladies of the Manor, #1) by Roseanna M. White

6 votes 26.1%

Blue Moon Bay by Lisa Wingate

Blue Moon Bay (Moses Lake, #2) by Lisa Wingate

3 votes 13.0%

Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish

3 votes 13.0%

Ready or Not by Chautona Havig

Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance, #1) by Chautona Havig

2 votes 8.7%

The Midwife by Jolina Petersheim

1 vote 4.3%

The Promise of Jesse Woods by Chris Fabry

1 vote 4.3%

Sweet Tea and Southern Grace by Glenda C. Manus

0 votes 0.0%

23 total votes

2 comments

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Jolina’s Quotes

“A book, too, can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

tags: books, fire, star, universe

4508 likes

“If you are lazy, and accept your lot, you may live in it. If you are willing to work, you can write your name anywhere you choose.”
― Gene Stratton-Porter, A Girl of the Limberlost

tags: industriousness, inspirational

1183 likes

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

tags: books, magic, reading

17185 likes

“Sometiimes when you look at a person all you see is the tangle and you miss the weave”
― Jonathan Odell, The Healing

17 likes

“A Robin said: The Spring will never come,
And I shall never care to build again.
A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome,
My sap will never stir for sun or rain.
The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow,
I neither care to wax nor care to wane.
The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago,
Because earth's rivers cannot fill the main. —
When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest,
And trilled a lover's song in sheer delight.
Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might
Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core.
The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest,
Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore.”
― Christina Rossetti

tags: spring

49 likes

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