THE BOOKMARK
AND OTHER STORIES
OF BETHLEHEM, PA
1777. After being wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, the Marquis de Lafayette is taken to the isolated religious community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where he is cared for by a Moravian Single Sister named Liesl Boeckel who has little patience with the arrogant Frenchman and his unwelcome curiosity about her life.
2005. When Abbey Prescott inherits her grandmother’s house in Bethlehem, she discovers an eighteenth-century bookmark, which may reveal a romance between Liesl and Lafayette, and she becomes determined to solve the mystery. However, her quest is complicated by the aftershocks of a failed love affair and a possible romantic entanglement of her own.
The Bookmark is a work of historic fiction and an immersive romantic mystery that illuminates a little-known piece of American history through the lives of two women, separated by the centuries but alike in their determination to confront the past and find a way forward.
Historic Bethlehem becomes a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE Site
Moravian Church Settlements - Bethlehem has been inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List.
Visit Historic Bethlehem today and see why the esteemed World Heritage Committee unanimously agreed that Moravian Church Settlements have outstanding universal worth!
Read The Bookmark to learn more about the fascinating history of this newest UNESCO World Heritage site!
Country Meadows Retirement Community
I enjoyed a wonderful afternoon with the Country Meadows Retirement Community. A very friendly and engaged group!
Lafayette 200—Bicentennial of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour
Between August 14, 2024 and September 9, 2025, the nation will celebrate the bicentennial of Lafayette’s return to America. Hundreds of events will trace Lafayette’s footsteps on the exact dates and in the exact order he followed on his tour of America as the “Guest of the Nation” between 1824 and 1825.
In June of 2025, I will have the honor of participating in a Lafayette 200 Webinar focused on books written about Lafayette. I’ll provide more details closer to the date.
For more information about the Bicentennial: Lafayette 200
From the Blog
Prayer in the Side-hole
“Prayer in the Side-hole” by Marianne von Watteville
The early Moravians had an unusual fascination with the Savior’s wound, which is why in The Bookmark, the Labouress displays this painting (shown above) over her desk. Liesl describes the painting as a “macabre picture depicted a young girl inside a chasm that had been slashed into the side of a hill like an open wound.”
Click the link below to learn more about this painting and the concept of wound worship.
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