Amish Culture

Essie Lapp's birthday is doubly blessed. There's a delicious meal to savor with her family, and the sweet gift of time spent with her beau, Harlan. Over two years they've forged a bond as strong and hopeful as a tree reaching for the sky. To practical-minded Essie, there's comfort in knowing exactly what her future will bring. Yet Gott has his plan, and it soon turns her family's world upside down....

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 . . .

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.

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.

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.

Spirited, forthright, impulsive—everyone told Greta Eicher she'd have to change her ways if she ever hoped to marry. Then her best friend Calvin, the man she thought she would wed, chooses another woman. Now Greta's wondering if the others were right all along. Noah knows it's time to think about finding a wife. When Greta offers to play matchmaker on his behalf, Noah eagerly accepts. After all, no one knows his children better. But none of the women she suggests seem right, because, unexpectedly, his feelings of respect and friendship for Greta have grown into something deeper.

Esther Zook is starting over after her father's death, piecing together a new life with as much care as she puts into her intricate quilts. When her wayward sister abandons her baby, it throws all those plans for a fresh start asunder. Esther had accepted her status as an old maid - but a mother? And a single one, at that? Not that she hasn't noticed Levi Kiem, the eligible young man who's making repairs in her house. Yet he surely has no interest in Esther as anything other than a friend....

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.

Now that Nancy Yoder's sons have both married, she turns her attention to Rose, the oldest of her four daughters. Rose is nearly 20 and, in Nancy's opinion, it's high time she began to look for a husband. Rose is caught off guard by her mother's desire that she should marry and marry fast. She tells her mother that love will find her when its ready. Soon after their discussion, Rose meets Jacob, the man of her dreams, and the two become close.

Mattie Zook always stands up for what's right—which is why she's been exiled from her Pennsylvania Dutch home to her Aunt Esther's farm. Outraged at local discrimination against the Amish, she's using her rumschpringe to run for town council. Esther can only hope that sensible local farmer Freeman Sensenig will help Mattie—and keep her from going too far. But Mattie is soon finding her new campaign manager all too appealing . . .

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. 

Esther's distant cousin, widower Menno Eicher, needs to be hard-headed and practical. Swamped by family and farm responsibilities, he must find the perfect wife as quickly as possible, so he's shown up in Colorado—with "finding a wife" on his To-Do list! Esther's community has many women who could match his ever-growing requirements. Yet after a chance meeting, Menno keeps coming back to baker Joanna Yoder. Hard-working, honest, and forthright, she's distracting Menno from his search, opening his heart—but refuses to believe he's falling hopelessly in love with her . . .

Though Mary Yoder longs to marry someday, she finds caring for her community's injured and sick is much easier than courting. But when Englischer Clay Markham crashes his car nearby, Mary's nursing shows her his hidden wounds are more painful than his injuries. Though she's irresistibly drawn to his kind nature, can she risk letting him into her heart? On the run from his troubled past, ex-pro baseball player Clay can't believe the quiet sanctuary he's found under Mary's care. Her gentle faith and knowledge are somehow giving him hope he can change his life.

When Hannah Eicher discovered sweet baby Grace in her barn last spring, the adorable infant seemed like the answer to her prayers. The young Amish baker has always wanted a family of her own, and now that she’s fostered Grace for nearly a year, her adoption application is almost certain to be approved. Englischer paramedic Mike Colder is only returning to his childhood hometown to locate and adopt his late sister’s baby. But when the trail leads to Hannah and Grace, Mike’s determination falters. With Hannah, the simple life he left behind suddenly seems appealing.

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.

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...

Under the Harvest Moon by Beth Wiseman: When Naomi Dienner is suddenly widowed, she never expects to find love again...until she meets Brock Mulligan, an English family friend hired at harvest time. Will God open Naomi's heart - and give Brock his own second chance at love? Other stories: Love and Buggy Rides by Amy Clipston; Mischief in the Autumn Air by Vannetta Chapman; and A Quiet Love by Kathleen Fuller.

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...