True Amish

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.

When Misty was six years old, her family started to live and dress like the Amish. Misty and her sister were kept as slaves on a mountain ranch where they were subjected to almost complete isolation, sexual abuse, and extreme physical violence. When Misty reached her teens, her parents feared she and her sister would escape and took them to an Amish community where they were adopted and became baptized members. Misty was devastated to once again find herself in a world of fear, animal cruelty, and sexual abuse.

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 . . .

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.

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.

My Amish Story is the story of the last few years of Amish life for the Graber family in the 1990s. It’s about the hurdles of breaking the barriers of centuries, of family circles being broken with no good-byes, of heartbreak and estrangement, and of the transitions and adjustments to a new way of living.

Thirty-year-old Barbara Weaver was content to live as the Amish have for centuries - without modern convenience - but her husband, Eli, wanted a life beyond horses and buggies. Soon he gave in to the temptation of technology and found ways to go Online and meet women. When Barbara was found dead, shot in the chest at close range, all eyes were on Eli... and his mistress, a conservative Mennonite named Barb Raber. Barb drove Eli to appointments in her car. She gave him everything he asked for: a laptop, rides to his favorite fishing and hunting spots, and sex.

Like most Amish children, Eirene had a carefree childhood in a tight-knit family life in the Old Order Amish community where she grew up Indiana. Though she had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and no modern conveniences, her young life was full of joy. When Eirene becomes pregnant and marries at the tender age of 17, the harsh reality of her new life sets in. Though she loves being a mother, and she loves her family, Eirene knows there has to be more to life than being a housewife confined to her home. Doesn’t God have a bigger purpose for her? Wasn’t she meant for more?

Take one thoroughly modern gal with a recessionary income problem, mix with the practices of a culture that has proved to be recession-proof, and what have you got? A financial planner in a straw hat. When writer Lorilee Craker learned that the Amish are not just surviving but thriving in the economic downturn, she decided to find out why.

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.

"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.

Tillie Gingerich is so in love with Melvin Yoder that she agrees to leave her conservative Amish home to live with him in the English world. But when the struggle to make ends meet leads to conflict and reveals troubling weaknesses in their relationship, Tillie returns to Pontotoc - pregnant and unmarried. Her loving family accepts her, but to convince the rest of the community, they must turn to the bishop. Distraught, Tillie runs away on Christmas Eve - only to get as far as an isolated house on the edge of town.

Gregarious Rose Lehman, who's always the life of the Amish youth singings, is determined to marry the bishop's son, Reuben Byler - until the handsome Army buddy of her future brother-in-law shows up in Lancaster County. In comparison to Trevor, Reuben seems downright boring. Trevor shares Rose's sense of fun and adventure, and her easygoing disposition. When her sister Lila's buggy is rear-ended and Lila is horribly injured, Rose finds herself with more freedom than she's ever experienced.

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.

Moving far away from her first love is the perfect remedy for Leanna Wagler’s broken heart - until he buys the neighboring farm. Now, Leanna is in an unexpected position: temporary nanny to Gabriel Miller’s adorable twins. Although his kinder need her, Leanna spells trouble for the Amish widower...because a second chance with her means betraying a secret he’s honor-bound to protect.

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.

Four sweet stories about reuniting with the ones you love. Their True Home by Amy Clipston When Marlene Bawell moved from Bird-in-Hand ten years ago, she was in the deepest of mourning for her mother. Now her family has moved back so her father can seek employment after being laid off. To help...

Three charming stories of new school years and new romance. A Class for Laurel by Amy Clipston Adventurous Laurel Weaver leaves Pennsylvania to answer a newspaper ad for a teaching position in Colorado. She stays with handsome Glen Troyer’s family, and they become close. However, she never...

On Christmas Eve in 1985, a hunter found a young boy's body along an icy corn field in Nebraska. The residents of Chester, Nebraska buried him as "Little Boy Blue", unclaimed and unidentified - until a phone call from Ohio two years later led authorities to Eli Stutzman, the boy's father. Gregg Olsen's Abandoned Prayers is an incredible true story of murder and Amish secrets.

Winter Kisses by Beth Wiseman Three generations of Stoltzfus women are all living under the same roof. At twenty-five, Naomi has never been married, and both her mother, Barbara, and her grandmother, Ruth, have recently been widowed. Each nursing broken or lonely hearts, they also each have...