Amish Fiction

The tranquil little town of Willow Ridge is facing a startling challenge. Wealthy Nora Glick Landwehr is determined to make it her home again - and put her past to rest. Cast out by her own family, Nora can't reconcile with old Amish ways or her strict father. But she'll do anything to help her community embrace the future and to and make amends to the daughter she had to give up. So she certainly has no time for her reckless new neighbor, Luke Hooley. They disagree about almost everything.

Bright, curious, and restless, Ruthie Stoltzfus loves her family but is stuck in a sea of indecision about her future: Should she stay Amish? Or should she leave? She's done all she can to prepare to go - passed the GED, saved her money - but she can't quite set her journey into motion. Patrick Kelly is a young man on a journey of his own. He's come to Stoney Ridge to convert to the Amish and has given himself 30 days to learn the language, drive a buggy, and adapt to "everything Plain". Time, to Patrick, is of the essence.

As a bright season brings a fresh start to Willow Ridge, Annie Mae Knepp feels she can never make peace with the past. Her disgraced ex-bishop father is furious she has taken her five siblings to live with her. She's never been truly at home in her faith...or in believing in herself. And Annie Mae fears no man will want to take on the responsibilities she's gladly shouldered. True, her quiet neighbor, Adam Wagler, has been steadfast and unshakeable in helping her through her trials, but he surely couldn't think of someone so lost as more than a friend.

Linda couldn't be more surprised when Ben turns out to be caring and helpful, despite his rowdy pranks and bad-news friends. And falling in love with him suddenly seems just right. But when a heartbreaking misunderstanding comes between them, both she and Ben must risk enough to trust, stitch the pieces back together - and dare a forever precious happiness.

In a terrible accident, Rachel Yoder loses her husband, her son, and her unborn child. Now, Rachel leads a reclusive life with her young daughter. Her soul is troubled, and her eye-sight has mysteriously dimmed. But the discovery of an old postcard, hidden for years, is about to change Rachel's world.

By solving the murders of two local girls, Elizabeth has gained some trust in the Amish community. So she's the first person its members turn to when a fast and fatal illness takes hold among the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many believe that the sickness stems from a curse placed by a practitioner of old-world folk magic. But Elizabeth doesn't believe in curses, and when an entire Amish family is found dead, she begins to suspect something far more sinister.

The Stoltzfus family faces serious problems, both in the church and at home. Everyone in the community expects minister David Stoltzfus to fix things - fast. But David doesn't work fast. He prefers to wait for God to work in individual hearts. However, even he is left wondering if the solution to their most pressing problem might be a Quieting. When David's mother arrives uninvited, more upheaval is in store. She has matchmaking plans for everyone in the family, including David and her eligible granddaughters - and especially for David's niece, Abigail.

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.

Amanda Dienner hasn't spoken a word to her Old Order mother or twin sister in five years when she receives word that her mother has passed away and left her Lancaster County's most popular Amish bed-and-breakfast. Now an Englisher, Mandy is shocked: Her sister should have been the obvious choice! But because this is all her controlling mother's doing, of course there's a catch, and Mandy soon learns that the farmhouse inn will only truly be hers if she is able to successfully run it for one year.

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.

Shunned from the Amish life she once knew, Katherine Mayfield finds solace in her volunteer work and the delights of the modern world. Unknown to Katherine, her long-lost love, Daniel Fisher, is desperate to locate his "sweetheart girl", only to be frustrated at nearly every turn. Once again, Katherine is compelled to face the heritage of her past and recognize God's love in unexpected places.

After her fiancé dies, 24- year-old Leona determines to never love again and devotes herself to teaching. But then she meets Jimmy, fresh from Washington state, and looking for work - and more.

Join Merry Hanson, a very modern 15-year-old living in Pennsylvania's Amish country, as she faces the true-to-life struggles and heartfelt triumphs of growing up to be the best she can be in God's eyes. With her crush on Jon Klein stymied by Lissa, Merry mystifies nearly everyone when she begins spending time with fun-loving Levi Zook.

After a painting triggers strange memories, Ben Martin comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, in search of answers. Although Annie and this enchanting outsider are from different worlds, she wonders why Ben's kindness seems so familiar and his presence so calming to her - and to the troubled husband of her best friend.

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.

Recently widowed after twenty years of marriage, Frances Lehman is only just tasting the freedom and opportunity that her Promise Lodge friends enjoy. So she's not about to be pressured into marriage by her widowed brother-in-law, even if she and her daughter have no real means of support. Much more promising is her new friendship with Preacher Marlin Kurtz, though their respective families don't see their relationship as proper.

The only hope for the Suryavanshis is an ancient legend: ‘When evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears that your enemies have triumphed, a hero will emerge.’ Is the rough-hewn Tibetan immigrant Shiva really that hero? And does he want to be that hero at all? Drawn suddenly to his destiny, by duty as well as by love, will Shiva lead the Suryavanshi vengeance and destroy evil?

At age 20, Jessica Bachman left her two beloved sisters and her Amish community after clashing with the new bishop about her role in the family and the future of their farm. She tried to convince Silas Kemp, who'd been courting her for two years, to join her, but when he said no, she fled anyway. Three years later, she returns home for the first time since leaving Lancaster to attend her father's funeral. Her arrival back revives all sorts of emotions - yearnings and sorrows alike.

Journalist Philip Bradley can't forget Rachel Yoder, the blind Amish woman he met while on assignment in Pennsylvania. He is determined to find a cure for her and to get to know her better. But before Rachel can move on in her life, she must first confront traumatic memories. Can their growing love survive the vast gulf between their different worlds and Rachel's agonizing road to recovery?

In the summer of 1951, 18-year-old Maggie Esh is in need of some hope. Sweet-spirited and uncommonly pretty despite struggling with a debilitating illness, she is accustomed to being treated kindly by the young men of her Old Order Amish church district. Yet no one but Jimmy Beiler ever asks her out, and she always declines, certain he only pities her. To make matters worse, Dat has recently remarried, less than a year after Maggie's mother died. And while her stepmother is kind, she's much younger than Mamm, and she simply doesn't understand Maggie or her illness the way Mamm did.