Amish Fiction

For Leah Otto, marrying Jude Shetler is a long-held dream come true. As a young girl, she was captivated by his good looks and talent as an auctioneer. When Jude, now a widower with three children, begins to court her, Leah doesn't hesitate. Other men may not appreciate her tomboy ways, but Jude values Leah's practical nature, and both enter the marriage with joy and optimism. Three months later, Leah feels as if her world is coming down around her. Her twin teenage step-daughters are pushing boundaries, and Leah, more at ease in a barn tending her goats and chickens than in a kitchen, struggles with her housekeeping duties.

After a murder case threatens her safety, attorney Brooke Benton seeks sanctuary in the quiet Amish community of Maplecreek. Although the locals disagree with her cosmopolitan ways, she soon manages to find a place in their lives. But when a tragic hit-and-run accident turns fatal, Brooke cannot abide by the community's belief in absolute forgiveness. She wants answers.

Not all journeys come to an end.... 1867: Ruth Holtz has more blessings than she can count - a loving husband, an abundant farm, beautiful children, and the warm embrace of the Amish community. Then, the English arrive, spreading incredible stories of free land in the West and inspiring her husband to dream of a new life in Idaho. Breaking the rules of their Order, Ruth’s husband packs up his pregnant wife and their four children and joins a wagon train heading west.

When Charlotte sees something underhanded going on beneath the merrymaking, she enlists the help of Sheriff Deputy Luke Little to find out if her unknown correspondent is none other than the town's biggest suspect. And the surprising truth about her suitor's identity has her contemplating leaving her Amish roots behind forever....

For the past two years Belinda King, along with her two grown daughters and teenage son, has been struggling to keep the family greenhouse running. Despite disconcerting events that have threatened to put them out of business, they have survived two growing seasons. And now Belinda can focus on the two suitors vying for her attention. Herschel Fisher, a new acquaintance, makes her feel relaxed, and Monroe Esh, an admirer from her past, reminds her of her youth. But just when Belinda thinks she can choose between her suitors, life throws more trials her way.

Married for eight years, with no children to help fill her days, Heidi Troyer cooks up the idea of teaching classes in the art of Amish cuisine in her home in Holmes County, Ohio. But it is a recipe for drama when five very different men and women answer the advertisement.

Sylvia has been nearly paralyzed with grief and anxiety since the tragic death of her husband, father, and brother in a traffic accident. She tries to help in the family's greenhouse while caring for her two young children, but she prefers not to have to deal with customers. Her mother's own grief causes her to hover over her children and grandchildren, and Sylvia seeks a diversion. She takes up birdwatching and soon meets an Amish man who teaches her about local birds.

Love alone isn’t enough to overcome some obstacles. Lena Kauffman is a young Old Order Amish schoolteacher who has dealt all her life with attention raised by a noticeable birthmark on her cheek. Having learned to move past the stares and whispers, Lena channels her zest for living into her love of teaching. But tensions mount as she is challenged to work with a rebellious young man and deal with several crises at the schoolhouse that threaten her other students.

After fleeing her hometown, Katharine finds peace and anonymity while working at Stoll’s Inn and keeping to herself. As long as her guard is up, she can protect herself and others from her past, with the hope that one day her family will forgive her for leaving.

Tally Smucker’s quiet life of reading and quilting hides her sorrow over her mother’s declining health and the lack of a fulfilling future for herself. When her daily life is shaken by her free-spirited neighbor Danielle - who grew up Plain but joined the Army at 18 - Tally’s instinct is to distance herself. Yet she finds she can’t turn away when Danielle’s brother, Kenan, specifically asks for her help.

When the Mast family is forced to evacuate their home in the West Kootenai region of Montana, Christine chooses not to move with her family to her father’s childhood home in Kansas. Instead, she wants to stay closer to home and to her beau, Andy Lambright, who has yet to ask for her hand in marriage and who seems to be holding tightly to secrets from his past. Now, living with her aunt and uncle in St. Ignatius, Christine is on her own for the first time in her life.

Bess Weaver, 20 and expecting her first child, is in the kitchen making stew for her beloved mann, Caleb, one minute, and the next, she’s burying him after a tragic accident. Aidan tries to repress his guilt over his best friend Caleb’s death and his long-standing feelings for Bess by working harder than ever. But as he spends time with the young son his friend left behind, he seems to be growing closer to the boy’s beautiful mother as well.

Danielle Parker is a gold-medal mom - the kind who volunteers in her children's classrooms, shuttles them between activities, throws legendary birthday parties, and has a remedy on hand for any emergency. Whatever her husband, Jeff, and their children need, Dani is there, always. Except for one day. On that day - the day that Dani reluctantly takes some "me time" while her mom and Jeff drive the children to the park - the unthinkable happens. The car crash leaves no survivors.

Mattie Schrock is no stranger to uprooting her life. Even as her father relocated her family from one Amish community to the next, she always managed to find a footing in their new homes. Now as the Schrock family plans to move west from Somerset County to a fledgling Amish settlement in Indiana, she looks forward to connecting with old friends who will be joining them from another Pennsylvania community - friends like Jacob Yoder, who has always held a special place in her heart. Since Mattie last saw Jacob, they've both grown into different people with different dreams.

Eliza King already has a broken heart, and thanks to a rickety ladder, she now has a broken leg too. She isn't dealing with either very well. Ever since a brief romance ended when the boy who'd been courting her tried a little too hard to take things further, Eliza has sought refuge in reading books and tending to her beloved horses. Being incapacitated makes the latter impossible. But her Englisch doctor knows an Amish man looking for just such work . . .

As a bishop's daughter and good Amish mother, widowed Sadie Hochstetler teaches her young son that God blesses those who try their best to please Him. But her brief marriage taught her that life is infinitely more complicated than that. Older, and serious, her late husband seemed a sensible choice - especially compared to Elijah Fisher, the spirited boy with whom she butted heads and hearts. Then Elijah abruptly left for the Englisher world, taking Sadie's beloved brother along with him - a double betrayal she still strives to forgive. Especially now that Elijah has returned....

An angry letter from Cherish brings a young man back into town to deliver an apology in person. Hope is delighted when the man she loves joins her Amish community so they can eventually marry. What happens when Wilma and her new husband leave the girls alone for a quick vacation? Will there even be a house standing on their return? Meanwhile, Bliss finds someone with whom she has a lot in common.

After the death of her parents, Mennonite Brenna Zimmerman relocates to the Lancaster County farm of her Old Order Amish grandparents. There, she befriends Rylan Sanders, a disabled veteran, and commits to rising above her own grief to help him as much as she can. But when things take a turn for the worse, Brenna finds herself at a loss for what to do.

Phineas King knows better than to expect anything but shock and pity wherever he shows his face. Horribly scarred from the tragic accident that claimed his mother's life, he chooses to keep his distance from everyone, focusing his time and energy on the bees his family raises. So why does he start finding excuses to seek out Deborah Lantz, the beautiful new arrival in town?

Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it’s time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity.