Crazy Quilt: Pieces of a Mennonite Life
"Cynthia Yoder broke new ground in Mennonite letters with Crazy Quilt: Pieces of a Mennonite Life," writes Melanie Springer Mock in The Mennonite World Review. "The memoir, one of the first of its kind written by a Mennonite, detailed the debilitating depression that compelled Yoder to leave her husband and life in New York City and return to her roots by moving to her grandparents’ home in rural Pennsylvania." The book follows the author’s quest for identity and healing in Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
"Normal...had gone out on a long walk without saying when she’d be back," the author writes in the first chapter. Depressed, twenty-five, and separated from her husband, writing the book began as her healing project. The memoir follows the year the author spends time re-connecting to her Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonite family. She gathers stories from her aging grandparents, explores the rural countryside, writes letters to her estranged husband, and begins to find happiness again. Crazy Quilt is ultimately a story about a young woman grappling with love, heritage and the human riddle, "Who am I?" Crazy Quilt was first published in 2003 and is now available on Kindle.
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