Amish Fiction

Mary Stoltzfus is 30 years old, splashed with freckles, and unmarried. In her Amish world, that qualifies her to be called an old maid. She is living her quiet schoolteacher life in the Lancaster County Amish community when she gets a surprising invitation in the mail one day. Would she come to Montana to teach?

Restaurant critic Derek Schumaker, notorious for his bitter reviews, is about to visit Daisy's Tea Garden, and Daisy and Aunt Iris are simmering with anxiety. A bad word from the culinary curmudgeon could really hurt their business. But how can he resist her cucumber sandwiches with pimento spread - not to mention the cheesy cauliflower soup and strawberry walnut salad? Schumaker takes a to-go order when the afternoon tea service is done, which Daisy hopes is a good sign. But when he perishes from a seizure, it looks like his food was dosed with something deadly.

From best-selling authors in the Amish genre come four delicious stories perfect for celebrating love, joy, and the holiday season. "Cookies and Cheer" by Amy Clipston: Alyssa Byler wants to build a sugar cookie nativity scene for her bakery’s Christmas window display - all she needs is the right cookie cutters. She turns to handsome blacksmith Kyle Smoker.

On the eve of Katie's wedding to widower Bishop John, startling news staggers out of her anguished parents, and nothing prepares Katie for the devastation their confession brings. Feeling betrayed, Katie watches as the only life she has ever known begins to unravel, leaving in its wake a furrow of pain and a future of hope.

The setting is the beginning of an Amish settlement in colonial America in the forests of eastern Pennsylvania. There, a young Amish couple, Hans and Kate Zug, are in their ninth year of marriage, still waiting to have a child. Then, one April morning, Kate finds a Native infant, wrapped in deerskin and placed next to the spring where she went to fill her water bucket.

A compelling story of friendship from the top author in Amish fiction, Leona Speicher got the "sister" she'd always dreamed of the day Gloria Gingerich and her family moved to Lancaster County Amish farmland. The Arkansas newcomers seem to be everything a devout Plain family should be, and Leona can't help comparing Gloria's engaging young parents to her own. Leona's cousin shows a romantic interest in Gloria around the same time as Gloria's older brother expresses his fondness for Leona.

While taking her morning run, Amish schoolteacher Jodi Winfield makes a startling find on the side of the road - a preschool-aged girl, crying and clad only in her undergarments. Jodi takes the girl with her, but no one knows who she is. Then fate brings Jodi to Hickory Hollow’s Lancaster Old Order Amish, and she finds clues to the girl’s identity.

Sarah's joy at her recent reunion with her sister, Hannah, and meeting the niece she didn't know she had is too soon interrupted when Deputy Sheriff Paul Gleason informs Sarah her sister has been killed. As she learns more about Hannah's death, the circumstances are eerily similar to their parents' murder. Sarah enlists Paul's help in digging deeper into the murders the police are dismissing as burglaries gone wrong. Paul's concern encourages Sarah's growing feelings for him, but as their investigation uncovers layers of lies almost 20 years old, they get close to uncovering the truth.

Everyone in Wells Landing has long expected Sadie Kauffman and Chris Flaud to marry, despite Sadie's telling them differently. While she loves Chris, she sees him more as a friend than a husband. Yet at 22, Sadie, the plainest girl in her group, is also the only one who is still single. Perhaps it's time to be practical and marry Chris, though he still has not asked. But when Sadie meets a kind, handsome Mennonite, it seems that her prayers have been answered....

It isn't that Lizzie doesn't want to stay Amish. It's just that there is so much to figure out. Like why can't she let her hair a little looser on top? And why can't she wear shoes with a little bit more of a heel? And will she ever really just know for a fact who she is going to marry, like her next-older sister, Emma, does? And how does it happen that her just-younger sister, Mandy, is going on a date before Lizzie ever has a real one?

Sophie Wittenbauer left her strict Mennonite hometown under a cloud of shame and regret. After a rough childhood, her teenage poor choices harmed others, leaving her with no choice but to change her life. Her entry-level writing job at a newspaper puts her in the right place at the right time to overhear office gossip about a prisoner who has information on a decades-old unsolved crime. While the other reporters write off the tip as the ravings of an angry criminal, Sophie can't ignore it because she knows the name of this prisoner from her old life.

Olive Hesh doesn’t know it, but she’s about to give someone a terrible shock. She was employed to be a nanny to two-year-old, Leo. The only thing is Leo’s father, Blake Worthington, doesn’t know an Amish girl is about to walk through his door. Olive convinces Blake she can handle the job, but can she be around this wealthy and handsome Englisher every day without compromising her faith? Her best friend is falling for an Englisher, and she does not want to make the same mistake.

The sun rises on a quiet June morning in 2009. August Epp sits alone in the hayloft of a barn, anxiously bent over his notebook. Eight women - ordinary grandmothers, mothers, and teenagers; yet to August, each one extraordinary - will climb the ladder into the loft, and the day's true task will begin. This task will be both simple and subversive: August, like the women, is a traditional Mennonite, and he has been asked to record a secret conversation. They have 48 hours to make a life-altering choice on behalf of all the women and children in the colony.

Four Amish novellas: Noel Fisher can make entire villages out of gingerbread; why won't she make a few dozen gingerbread cookies for Hunter Darcy? When a widowed, Englisher, Hunter Darcy, asks Noel, an Amish woman, to make a couple of dozen gingerbread cookies for his daughter's class at school, he gets more than he bargained for. Two brothers find romance during Amish wedding season. Meet the Darcy brothers; two modern-day heroes who just happen to be the most sought-after bachelors in town. One visit to the local bakery opens the door for some sweet romance.

In The Shunning, beautiful 22-year-old Katie Lapp longs to experience the forbidden things of the outside world, even while she is making plans to forever embrace the traditions of her people. In a few days, Katie will marry Bishop John, a widower with five young children. She should be excited, but instead she feels trapped. Her thoughts in turmoil, she heads to the attic to be alone. As she explores a dusty trunk, she discovers a satin infant gown, much too fancy for an Amish baby.

Enjoy four sweet and heartwarming stories about home, heart, and reuniting with the ones you love: Their True Home by Amy Clipston, A Reunion of Hearts by Beth Wiseman, A Chance to Remember by Kathleen Fuller, and Mended Hearts by Kelly Irvin.

Number-one best-selling author Leslie Gould delivers a new Amish romance series. When Amish farmer Pete Treger moves to Paradise Township, Pennsylvania, seeking a better life, he meets sisters Cate and Betsy Miller. Both are beautiful, but older sister Cate is known more for her sharp tongue and fiery temper than her striking appearance. Betsy, on the other hand, is sweet and flirty - and seems to have attracted most of the bachelors in Lancaster County! However, the sisters' wealthy father has made one hard and fast rule: Elder sister must marry first, before the younger can even start courting.

Zook only wants to devote herself to God, but struggles with patience toward others. Her sister's challenge that she can't serve God if she isn't willing to serve His people finally opens her eyes and she soon finds herself helping a family overwhelmed by triplets. Much to her surprise, she has a knack with the babies, and her confidence in dealing with others, both young and old, grows. One person she'll never be able to find peace with, though, is Ben Rupp.

Lizzie's dream of teaching school has finally come true. She loves the brand-new school building, the sound of the children singing, and the independence she has in the classroom. Even the occasionally unruly boys can't ruin the excitement she feels each morning when she starts the school day. But at home things are in turmoil again. What do Dat's sudden health problems mean for the future of their farm? And what about Lizzie's future?

When Anna Konig first meets Bairn, the Scottish ship carpenter of the Charming Nancy, their encounter is anything but pleasant. Anna is on the ship only to ensure the safe arrival of her loved ones to the New World. Hardened by years of living at sea, Bairn resents toting these naive farmers - dubbed "Peculiars" by deckhands - across the ocean. As delays, storms, illness, and diminishing provisions afflict crew and passengers alike, Bairn finds himself drawn to Anna's serene nature.