Amish Fiction

Life on Windmill Farm hasn’t been the same since Julia Lapp’s father has had trouble with his heart. But that doesn’t stop Julia from hoping for a bright future. She has planned on marrying Paul Fisher since she was a girl. Now twenty-one, she looks forward to their wedding with giddy anticipation. But when Paul tells her he wants to postpone the wedding - again - she is determined to change his mind.

Faced with marriage to a man she doesn’t love, Becca risks alienating her parents when she decides to follow her heart. But she fears heartbreak awaits her as the man she is drawn to refuses to reciprocate her feelings.

Working hard to develop a new Amish community outside of Unity, Maine, Rhoda Byler is fully committed to rehabilitating an orchard with business partner Samuel King. But an impulsive decision has created an unexpected strain in her relationship with her beau, Samuel’s brother, Jacob, threatening plans for the orchard.

Rachel Stoltzfus never imagined she’d be the talk of her Old Order Mennonite community until whispers stir the moment her belly swells with new life. Unmarried and refusing to repent by naming the partner in her sin, Rachel feels the wrath of the religious sect as she is shunned by those she loves most and eventually forced to leave - driven out by her twin sister’s husband, the bishop. But secrets run deep in this cloistered community, and the bishop is hiding some of his own, threatening his conscience and his very soul.

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.

When Elizabeth Kaufman received the news of her husband's death at the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, she felt only relief. She determined that she would never be at the mercy of any man again, even if it meant she would never have a family of her own. Then Aaron Zook comes home with her brother when the war ends two years later.

Abigail is supposed to live a plain and simple life. To work in her families quilt shop and marry one of the local boys. But when she meets a handsome outsider, plans start to change, forcing Abigail to make the decision of a lifetime....

After her husband's death, Grace Stevens returns to her family and her Amish community. She'd suffered through the challenge of an abusive marriage and wanted nothing more than to be baptized into the Amish faith and begin a new life. Grace finds it impossible to put the past behind her when Marlene, the woman who caused her to leave the community, is now living in Grace's family home and married to Grace's brother.

Charity Raber is one of many single women who came to Birch Creek, Ohio, with one goal in mind: secure a husband from among the desperate bachelors a newspaper advertisement claimed inhabited the town. Even though that claim proved to be nothing more than a cruel prank, Charity is still hopeful that her happy ending might be within reach when she’s set up on a date with Jesse Bontrager. That is until Jesse not-so-gently shares that he has no interest in a relationship with anyone—and especially not with her.

War correspondent Jennie King thinks she's just a temporary guest in her grandmother's Amish community while she recuperates from the devastating injuries sustained in a car-bomb attack that changed her world. But when she meets Matthew Bontrager, the man she had a crush on as a teenager, she wonders if God has a new plan for her.

Settling in to her new life in Canaan, Colorado, Katie Ann Stoltzfus gives birth to a beautiful baby boy. This child comes to her late in life following the death of her estranged husband. She resolves to play the role of both father and mother to the child. Ivan was her one true love and despite his infidelities, she mourns his loss and vows never to trust another man. But when a meddling - but good hearted - Englisch woman plays matchmaker for Katie Ann and Eli Detweiler who just arrived in Canaan, they both need to restructure their expectations of the future....

Cassandra Yoder was a girl who never wanted to follow the rules. Soon after Cassandra's boyfriend finds out she's pregnant, he leaves her alone on rumspringa and returns to their Amish community. Not long after, he is killed in a shooting. Cassandra considers she has no choice but to return home. When her parents find out she's pregnant, the only solution is to send her to Aunt Maud, who will help her find a couple to adopt the baby.

In this gripping conclusion to The Alliance, nearly six months have passed since Leora Ebersole's Old Order Mennonite community fled to the mountains for refuge after an attack destroyed the region's power grid and altered life as they knew it. Since then Leora has watched and waited for news of Moses Hughes, the young Englischer pilot who held off invading looters long enough for everyone to escape.

Love is a promise - for better or worse. When a group of eight cousins and friends leaves their Indiana Amish community for a weekend getaway, a horrific accident brings them home forever changed. Permanently disabled by the accident, Wayne Lambright struggles to take care of himself. He can't imagine being able to be the kind of husband his fiance, Loraine Miller, needs. Determined to sacrifice his happiness to give her a better life, he breaks their engagement.

Mary Katherine is caught between the traditions of her faith and the pull of a different life. When Daniel, an Amish man living in Florida, arrives and shares her restlessness, Mary Katherine feels drawn to him and curious about the life he leads away from Lancaster County. But her longtime friend, Jacob, has been in love with her for years. He’s discouraged that she’s never viewed him as anything but a friend and despairs that he is about to lose Mary Katherine to this outsider.

Martha Yoder moves to Hollybrook to help her sister Sarah with her three young sons. Sarah is alone now since her husband’s efforts at farming failed, and he went north to work at the factories. At Sarah’s home, Martha’s days are filled with housework, helping to care for her nephews and tending the animals. She even goes so far as to take a job in town.

Josephine Dronberger was a scared teenager when she left her baby in the care of an Old Order Amish couple. But 17 years have passed, and Josie longs to reconnect with her daughter. Linda - as the couple named the child - is promised to Stephen Ebersol, the bishop's grandson. They plan to marry in the fall. When her birth mother comes to Paradise, Linda is drawn to a world she's never known. Will the direction she's been heading since birth be suddenly derailed, and who will stand by her convictions - mother or daughter?

When Christine Bender meets widowed Bishop Monroe Burkholder, it's love at first sight. But Preacher Amos finds him too good to be true and is determined to find out what's behind his sudden, unannounced arrival. Still, the colony needs a new bishop, and everyone is excited to have a younger, more progressive leader. As for Christine, Monroe returns her affection, but her bubble is soon burst when a young woman half his age arrives.

Lately, nothing seems to go right for Ariel Winston. Her parents are divorced, her father is marrying a woman who seems to hate everything about her, and her mother is moving away to attend university. Even Ariel’s boyfriend Ron is no longer part of her life. When Ariel’s car breaks down outside of Baker’s Corner, Indiana, a chance encounter with the enigmatic Ike Gerhart opens a door to a world Ariel didn’t even know existed.

Lydia still can’t believe that she is Mrs. Samuel Bontrager. Or that she is 17 with a six-month-old daughter. As Baby Mattie grows fussier by the day, Lydia wonders how she will survive a lifetime of marriage to a man she doesn’t love - at least not in the way she wants. Samuel knows that he and Lydia did the right thing by marrying when Lydia became pregnant. He has even grown to love Lydia, though he never seems able to say the words out loud. What if she doesn’t love him back? After all, she pushes him away whenever he tries to draw closer.