What do you think?
Rate this book
Kentucky Voices
With a Hammer for My Heart
You never know what will fall from the sky... In this remarkable novel, George Ella Lyon creates characters rich and vibrant as the Kentucky landscape they call home, touching that secret place in all of us where we wait for love's transforming power...You never know what will fall from the sky...
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
11 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
George Ella Lyon
79 books74 followersGeorge Ella Lyon is a Kentucky author who has published in many genres, including picture books, poetry, juvenile novels, and articles.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 30, 2012
Just finished this book and am left feeling very grateful. Grateful that I am a reading person, grateful that I am still of sound mind and body and able to hold a real book and read it with capable eyes and last but not least, grateful for writers like George Ella Lyons. This is what reading is all about. Reading a book that hits you in the gut and keeps you alive and fresh.
This book shivered me timbers. Read it. I trust that you too will quake.
Some gems:
Mom. Drives fast. Cooks fast. Makes beds and folds laundry like there's no tomorrow.
Mamaw's as big and slow as Mom is small and fast. I don't mean slow in the mind; I mean careful, weighing. Mom is like a needle flashing through cloth. Mamaw reels out steady like a thread.
I was dancing around like water on a hot skillet. Then the car pulled up. And my childhood ended.
The lie was automatic, like the door that opens when you step in front of it.
This book shivered me timbers. Read it. I trust that you too will quake.
Some gems:
Mom. Drives fast. Cooks fast. Makes beds and folds laundry like there's no tomorrow.
Mamaw's as big and slow as Mom is small and fast. I don't mean slow in the mind; I mean careful, weighing. Mom is like a needle flashing through cloth. Mamaw reels out steady like a thread.
I was dancing around like water on a hot skillet. Then the car pulled up. And my childhood ended.
The lie was automatic, like the door that opens when you step in front of it.
August 23, 2025
A rich story of true friendship, redemption, and hard life lessons. I am proud to say this author is a Kentuckian.
February 6, 2022
This book was written by a poet, and, in some ways it does seem like an intense poem about loss, trauma, and redemption. Each character was drawn through their own words and the eyes of others. Some tragic. Some hateful. Some believing.
April 28, 2012
When will I ever learn? The best prose is poetry, and this book is just that. Lyon’s novel is told from multiple perspectives, those of a young girl, Lawanda, getting ready for that time in high school when college plans loom large, and her extended family, including a Mamaw who has visions of Jesus herself. Yes, herself. We meet Lawanda as she schemes for college expenses through the innocence only a sheltered teenager could muster: she thinks selling magazines will earn her enough money to finance what scholarships won’t cover. But the hardest sale she has to make is to her own family; they don’t understand why she’s trying so hard to leave them. Her parents eek out their living in a hard town, a mountain town in Eastern Kentucky, Cardin. The mountains are home, shelter, love, and a trap. Lawanda senses leaving comes in a narrow slice of opportunity, and she’s desperate to find a flatter horizon. What she meets is the town black sheep.
A neighbor of sorts, World War II veteran Garland lives on a hill nearby her home in two old abandoned buses. He has converted one into a library of sorts; the other is a squatter’s nest. She has been warned to stay away; he is an alcoholic, a loner, a hermit, but also someone Lawanda feels drawn to; she thinks she has a vision of him, a vision not at all unlike the religious ones her Mamaw experiences. What she finds in those buses is a man misunderstood in many ways; Garland was a very sharp school teacher. He used to teach young men and women at the high school she now attends. And he is worldly; he fought in the War, after all, and has seen something beyond the nearest ridges. But Lawanda scratches his boozy surface just enough to get herself in real trouble. Neither she nor the old man really do anything wrong, but in a small town, rumors hold a lot of sway. Hell, rumors hold sway in the world at large, at that rate.
We are awash in information today about PTSD and our returning soldiers; we are told to the point of indifference about the struggles of Vietnam veterans and the younger men and women returning from more recent wars. We are losing the last of our WWII vets; they are fading and gone before we have a chance to notice. But the trauma of those conflicts looms large in those men; they may have seemed to come home and carry on pretty well. But I watched as the war returned for my grandfather as he slipped into Alzheimer’s. He was in a VA hospital in Hazard, KY where he was cared for with a love and understanding I will always be humbled by and thankful for. The oddest part was watching him with the other WWII vets on the dementia ward; they talked about the war as if it were still happening. Because it was.
Lyon gives a slice of understanding here in an uncomfortable, poetic form, something that makes it stick for me. A wonderful read.
A neighbor of sorts, World War II veteran Garland lives on a hill nearby her home in two old abandoned buses. He has converted one into a library of sorts; the other is a squatter’s nest. She has been warned to stay away; he is an alcoholic, a loner, a hermit, but also someone Lawanda feels drawn to; she thinks she has a vision of him, a vision not at all unlike the religious ones her Mamaw experiences. What she finds in those buses is a man misunderstood in many ways; Garland was a very sharp school teacher. He used to teach young men and women at the high school she now attends. And he is worldly; he fought in the War, after all, and has seen something beyond the nearest ridges. But Lawanda scratches his boozy surface just enough to get herself in real trouble. Neither she nor the old man really do anything wrong, but in a small town, rumors hold a lot of sway. Hell, rumors hold sway in the world at large, at that rate.
We are awash in information today about PTSD and our returning soldiers; we are told to the point of indifference about the struggles of Vietnam veterans and the younger men and women returning from more recent wars. We are losing the last of our WWII vets; they are fading and gone before we have a chance to notice. But the trauma of those conflicts looms large in those men; they may have seemed to come home and carry on pretty well. But I watched as the war returned for my grandfather as he slipped into Alzheimer’s. He was in a VA hospital in Hazard, KY where he was cared for with a love and understanding I will always be humbled by and thankful for. The oddest part was watching him with the other WWII vets on the dementia ward; they talked about the war as if it were still happening. Because it was.
Lyon gives a slice of understanding here in an uncomfortable, poetic form, something that makes it stick for me. A wonderful read.
May 11, 2014
Lawanda Ingle is fifteen years old, poverty-stricken, and living in Cardin, Kentucky. She dreams of going to college once her high school education is complete. In order to raise some money, she decides to sell magazines to her neighbors. After Lawanda ventures to a place where she was forbidden to go, she meets and befriends Garland, a reclusive alcoholic who lives in two busses. When her parents find out about her relationship with the old man, they are extremely displeased. Despite their objection, Lawanda gets to know Garland on a deeper level, and finds out that his family had left him as a result of his shell shock from serving in World War II. Garland is sent to jail after someone breaks into one of his busses and steals a notebook containing what is thought to be incriminating evidence. With encouragement from her grandmother, Lawanda travels by bus to Louisville to track down Garland’s daughter, in hopes that she can help him get released from prison. "With a Hammer for My Heart" is a touching story that encompasses true friendship and selflessness.
March 23, 2011
I had to read this book all the way through and it almost lost me, but perseverance certainly paid off and it earned five stars. Mrs. Lyon has an incredible talent of drawing the reader in, changing course and tying all together.
This book was rated as a young adult read and it certainly would fit that. However, I think it would take a mature reader to understand the larger concepts. A wonderful read that ties in compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and all of those things which make us better.
This book was rated as a young adult read and it certainly would fit that. However, I think it would take a mature reader to understand the larger concepts. A wonderful read that ties in compassion, understanding, forgiveness, and all of those things which make us better.
September 12, 2014
This took a while for me to understand because George Ella Lyon wrote in a distinct and different style of writing to what I am used to.
I also was trying to figure out the relationship between the young girl and the recovered reclusive alcoholic. I felt the tension of possibly something else going on.
Great look at parts of Kentucky that I love to visit and see.
I would compare this book to "The Summer of My German Soldier" and some others that I had read.
I also was trying to figure out the relationship between the young girl and the recovered reclusive alcoholic. I felt the tension of possibly something else going on.
Great look at parts of Kentucky that I love to visit and see.
I would compare this book to "The Summer of My German Soldier" and some others that I had read.
July 26, 2010
I love the Kentucky heritage in this book. I got to had a small group writing class with this author, George Ella, and it was wonderful. I learned some fabulous writing strategies from her. I liked her very much.
September 7, 2009
This book gave great insight into some of the trials and tribulations of Appalachia. Anyone who has experience with Appalachian culture and/or the people of Appalachia must read this book!
March 24, 2018
Southern Appalachian story about a Veteran and a teenaged girl who become unlikely friends.
July 8, 2019
Some writers have the ability to make me see and know what the characters and places look like just by the descriptions. I will read this one again to see what I missed the first time.
July 15, 2019
A story about an unusual friendship between a war veteran suffering from what we now know as PTSD and a young teenage girl
July 24, 2024
It was a dnf for me. I thought at first it was gonna be good. But there are a lot of parts from what I read that really should have been left out.
March 17, 2016
This is a dark story of mental illness, war-torn families, religion and coming of age. The young heroine of the story befrinds a WWII veteran who lived through a very tough tour of duty in the war, became angry and bitter, and lost his family and friends. Through the trials and tribulations that come about as a result of this friendship, forgiveness and healing are attained. This is a book that causes the reader to think and think deeply. In my opinion, not too many works of fiction achieve such a feat.
September 13, 2013
It was pretty good. I say that because I believe that it was well written and that GEL had a lot of intention in writing it and obviously put a lot of effort into its creation. But it didn't make me feel anything. I didn't really care what happened to any of the characters, didn't really identify with anyone, and never really thought about the book when I wasn't reading it. If I didn't have to read this for a class, I would've never picked up the book.
February 27, 2015
"With a Hammer for My Heart" is a really uneven book. Told from multiple viewpoints with distinctive voices, the story examines the collateral damage to those we love as we face the battles of life. At times, I loved the characters and the story, at other times I wanted to give up on the book. The writing was so inconsistent that it really detracted from the story. I don't think I would recommend the book, but it wasn't a bad book, just not something I would encourage others to read.
December 1, 2008
This is the One Book, One Community title for Northern Kentucky this year.
July 17, 2008
This will be the book for this year's Northern Kentucky One Book One Community program!
October 14, 2008
A bit unusual, but I enjoyed it.
June 24, 2009
I loved this book. The characters were all too real and touched my heart!
January 10, 2008
One of my favorites.
May 27, 2009
I loved this book check out my review online!
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews