Amish Women

Collette Yoder's path hasn't been easy since her husband abandoned her—and she recovered from a near-fatal injury. But now-widowed, she feels blessed to provide for her children, especially when her new job means helping the also newly widowed Bishop Aaron Troyer straighten out his too-busy life. She simply won't let herself hope too much that their friendship could blossom into much, much more . . .

Siblings Martin, Kelsey, Beth, and Jonny are as different as can be, but they have one thing in common. They're all longing to reinvent their lives. Raised by their divorced lapsed-Amish father and English mother, they only knew real stability and a sense of family when visiting their Old Order grandparents, Josiah and Sylvia Schrock, in peaceful small-town Millersburg, Ohio. Now, the four want to try living with them and joining their faith—much to the Schrocks' surprise.

Addie Byler may be Apple Creek's resident wallflower, but she knows she has a lot to offer—and much to be grateful for. Raised by her loving grandmother, she lives a life filled with good friends and hard work. Wary of romance, Addie assumes no man will look beyond her glasses and her tendency to talk to her rescue donkey, Snickers—until the day she finds a note from a secret admirer. A prank, most likely. But then, a second note arrives . . .

Petunia Yoder is Blueberry, Pennsylvania’s youngest old maid, at twenty-two years of age, and is completely unmarriageable. But she’s determined to celebrate her friends’ weddings with joy and a full heart. Unfortunately, Petunia’s best friend, Eden Beiler, is playing a dangerous game with a man who is ruining her reputation. Ike Smoker is the community’s ice man—the one who cuts, stores, and sells the ice—and when Petunia discovers him dead with an ice pick in his chest, Eden is found on the scene with blood on her hands.

When Joel and Shani Beck arrive at their new home on Juneberry Lane in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, they're looking for peace. Joel's recently returned from Iraq and is recuperating, and Shani is just happy to have her family back together. They can't imagine any trouble with their Amish neighbors, the Lehmans, but things get off to a rocky start when their son accidently hurts Simon, one of the Lehman boys.

Fifteen years. That’s how long it’s been since Hannah McLean set foot in the Amish community where she was raised. Through it all, her heart has never forgotten Pontotoc - or Aaron Zook, her first love. Now widowed and left with little more than her hurting teenager and her prayers, she returns home, even knowing she and her son may be turned away. When Aaron learns Hannah has returned, he nearly falls to his knees.

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.

This Amish matchmaker is an expert at finding love for others, but will she find it for herself? Widowed sisters Esther and Lizzie are the town innkeepers—and the town matchmakers. But when a new tenant moves into a guest cottage at their Peony Inn, the sisters are shocked to discover that...

When widowed Millie Fisher moves back to her childhood home of Harvest, Ohio, she notices one thing right away - the young Amish are bungling their courtships and marrying the wrong people! A quiltmaker by trade, Millie has nevertheless stitched together a few lives in her time, with truly romantic results. Her first mission? Her own niece, widowed gardener Edith Hochstetler, recently engaged to rude, greedy Zeke Miller. Anyone can see he's not right for such a gentle young woman - except Edith herself.

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.

Graduate student Beth Winslow was sure she was ready to navigate the challenges of becoming a surrogate. But when early tests indicate possible abnormalities with the baby, Beth is unprepared for the parents' decision to end the pregnancy - and for the fierce love she feels for this unborn child. Desperate, she flees the city and seeks refuge at Hopen Haus, a home for unwed mothers deep in a Tennessee Mennonite community.

New York Times and USA Today best-selling Christian novelist Beverly Lewis continues her tradition of Amish stories with the Annie's People series. In the first book, Lewis addresses young Annie Zook's inner conflict between the strong bonds of her family and faith and the allurement of her talent. Her love of drawing has thus prevented her from choosing a husband, much to her Old Order preacher father's consternation.

In this sweeping new historical series by Virginia Wise, a young woman finds a new life in America's first Amish settlement - and discovers that love requires a special sort of courage...Pennsylvania, 1737. Greta Scholtz braved a perilous journey - and the loss of her beloved father - to find religious freedom in America. With two orphan children she's taken under her wing, she's trying hard to survive this rugged new world. So she won't let settlement elders pressure her into marrying reserved widower Jacob Miller.

Ever since she and her friends opened a market stall for employment, Amish maid Claire Shoneberger has finally stopped worrying about finding a husband. After all, there are no eligible bachelors left in her community. Now Claire is starting a new job at an English bed-and-breakfast - where the owner's son has a flirty reputation with women. Only, Englisher Donovan Billings isn't quite the worldly scoundrel Claire expects. An attraction to Donovan could be dangerous, yet Claire finds herself warming to him. Any man can have a change of heart.

For years Zane Beck and his Amish neighbor, Lila Lehman, were the best of friends. But just as Zane gathered the courage to discover if their friendship could develop into something more, her controlling father arranged for her to be courted by their bishop's son. Zane, heartbroken and frustrated, joined the army, running away from his shattered dreams.

"You've got one year to find a husband. If you haven't found one by then, I'll find one for you!" Rose wasn't shocked by her mother's announcement. Since Rose's two older brothers had married, her mother had become obsessed with weddings. Rose wasn't against marriage; she just hadn't met the man of her dreams yet. She'd know him when she saw him.

When Ruth Neufeld's husband and father-in-law are killed working for a relief organization overseas, she travels to Wisconsin with her young daughters and mother-in-law, Mabel, to bury her husband. She hopes the Mennonite community will be a quiet place to grieve and piece together next steps.

In 1977, in an Ohio Amish community, pregnant wife and mother Ida Stutzman perished during a barn fire. The coroner’s report: natural causes. Ida’s husband, Eli, was never considered a suspect. But when he eventually rejected the faith and took his son, Danny, with him, murder followed. What really happened to Ida? The dubious circumstances of the tragic blaze were willfully ignored and Eli’s shifting narratives disregarded.

Much to her mother's chagrin, Lily Yoder is not the only one among her siblings to remain unwed. Uncertain she even wants to be anybody's wife, Lily doesn't mind her single status one bit. But when she meets Elijah Bontrager, suddenly marriage is all she can think about. The handsome glazier is everything she never realized she wanted in a strong Amish man. But a shocking secret from Elijah's past looms large, threatening to tear them apart. And when Lily finds out the truth, she'll have to decide if marrying Elijah is what her heart truly wants.

The remarkable response of the Amish Community to the horrific shooting of 10 schoolgirls at Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania in October 2006 stunned the larger world. Amish Grace tells the incredible story of this community's reaction to the senseless shooting and explores its profoundly countercultural practice of forgiveness.