Cindy Sproles is an award-winning author whose roots run deep into the peaks and valleys of the Appalachian Mountains. Her latest novel, What Momma Left Behind, takes readers back to the late 1800s when dysentery and influenza swept through the area. These diseases often killed adults leaving many children to survive as best they could. Cindy shares a couple possible reasons why adults were affected more than the children.

In our chat about the story behind Cindy’s story, she talks about the “granny women” who served as healers with their unique mixture of herbal knowledge, religion, and superstition. Much of Cindy’s research comes from stories passed down in her family and others she meets through her role as an eldercare specialist.

Cindy also writes nonfiction. She shares the amazing story–now a family tradition–that inspired the title of one of her devotional books, New Sheets. Truly one of the most unique family traditions ever!

After we stopped the recording, Cindy coached me on the correct way to pronounce “Appalachia” which you may notice I avoided saying throughout the interview. LOL!

Connect with Cindy at her website and on Facebook.

Purchase What Momma Left Behind and Mercy’s Rain

What Momma Left Behind

Worie Dressar is 17 years old when influenza and dysentery ravage her Appalachian Mountain community in 1898, leaving behind a growing number of orphaned children with no way to care for themselves. Worie’s mother has been secretly feeding a number of these little ones on Sourwood Mountain. But when she dies suddenly, Worie is left to figure out why and how she was caring for them.

Plagued with two good-for-nothing brothers–one greedy and the other a drunkard–Worie fights to save her home and the orphaned children now in her begrudging care. Along the way, she will discover the beauty of unconditional love and the power of forgiveness as she cares for all of Momma’s children.

Storyteller and popular speaker Cindy K. Sproles pens a tender novel full of sacrifice, heartache, and courage in the face of overwhelming obstacles.

Mercy’s Rain

Mercy Roller knows her name is a lie: there has never been any mercy in her young life. Raised by a twisted and abusive father who called himself the Pastor, she was abandoned by the church community that should have stood together to protect her from his evil. Her mother, consumed by her own fear and hate, won’t stand her ground to save Mercy either.

The Pastor has robbed Mercy of innocence and love, a husband and her child. Not a single person seems capable of standing up to the Pastor’s unrestrained evil. So Mercy takes matters into her own hands.

Her heart was hardened to love long before she took on the role of judge, jury, and executioner of the Pastor. She just didn’t realize the retribution she thought would save her, might turn her into the very thing she hated most.

Sent away by her angry and grieving mother, Mercy’s path is unclear until she meets a young preacher headed to counsel a pregnant couple. Sure that her calling is to protect the family, Mercy is drawn into a different life on the other side of the mountain where she slowly discovers true righteousness has nothing evil about it–and that there might be room for her own stained and shattered soul to find shelter. . . and even love.

Mercy’s Rain is a remarkable historical novel set in 19th century Appalachia that traces the thorny path from bitterness to forgiveness and reveals the victory and strength that comes from simple faith.