About the Book

Book: Sarah’s Search

Author: Jodie Wolfe

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release Date: June 30, 2026

All her life, Sarah McBride has gone along with whatever her guardian dictates. Now on the verge of graduating from the Shippensburg State Normal School, she questions her ability to teach in a classroom when her heart isn’t in the profession. What she wouldn’t give to pursue her heart’s desire of becoming a writer instead of following what’s expected. But how can Sarah defy her guardian’s plans?

Everything has been a hardship for Ezekiel Stouffer ever since his wife died giving birth to their second child. The last thing he needs is the responsibility of monitoring the new schoolteacher while still maintaining his farm. But when their paths entangle, he can’t help but notice the way his children respond to her tender concern. After his loss, Zeke doubts he’ll ever search for love again, but maybe friendship is an option.

Can two searching hearts find the same path?

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My Thoughts:

Sarah is a character that I really felt for. I felt that her search for belonging in life was palpable and realistic. She has been raised by her wealthy uncle under strict rules and being groomed for what he wanted her to do with her life. Sarah wants to be an author, already a near impossible career for a young woman to get in her day and age. Her uncle, however, has plans for her to be a schoolteacher.

Ezekiel is a farmer who is busy taking care of his two motherless children with the help of his grandmother, while missing his wife who was the love of his wife. Sarah who has somehow won the children over keeps getting in his way so to speak. Even after he helped her secure her teaching position, she cannot even seem to keep that on her own. And the worst part is he just keeps thinking about her. Then Ezekiel comes up with a solution for both of them, marriage but one of convenience. For as he told Sarah, he would only love his wife. Poor Sarah, just what every woman wants to hear in a marriage proposal.

Well, Sarah really does not have many options so she does take the offer from Ezekiel, it would be better than going back to her uncle. Well, this is where the story really picked up for me. I enjoyed watching their eventual love match work out, there were some other things they needed to work on first though. I appreciated that Ezekiel needed to make things right with his Maker before he could make things right with Sarah. This was an enjoyable story of finding love and faith again, even against our own stubborn hearts.

I was provided a copy of this novel from the author. I was not required to post a positive review, and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author

JODIE WOLFE loves writing historical fiction after years as a homeschooling mom. She enjoys spending time with her husband in Pennsylvania, reading, knitting, and walking. Jodie creates novels where hope and quirky meet.

More from Jodie

Almost ten years ago, a big Victorian house was for sale. I had the pleasure of touring it and taking photos of the exterior and interior. I knew I would eventually set a story there. Fast forward to spring of this year, and it was finally time to write about the setting in Shippensburg, PA. The house has changed very little through the years, so it’s easy to imagine life in 1878 along Normal Avenue. The house is located at the bottom of the hill where the Cumberland Valley State Normal School started in 1873*. It soon changed its name to Shippensburg State Normal School and eventually Shippensburg University.

Since I have my heroine living in the old house at the start of Sarah’s Search, she also attends the normal school and graduates before she becomes a teacher in Newburg, PA at the Mount Jackson one-room schoolhouse.

It is no longer in Newburg, but is on the grounds at Shippensburg University and set up as it would have looked when used many years ago.

I love when I can envision history coming to life by visiting places like the house, normal school, one-room schoolhouse, as well as the local churches and towns that were around in the time period that I used in my recent book. I had the distinct pleasure of finding three local historians. Two with expertise in the two different towns I wrote about in Sarah’s Search, along with one who was a former archivist at Shippensburg University. What a treasure they’ve been to me.

As you read Sarah’s Search, I hope you’ll enjoy stepping back in time as much as I did while writing it.

*The cornerstone was laid May 31, 1871.