Amish Community

Back in the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation took Europe by storm. The havoc wreaked saw the split of churches and the emergence of the Amish, led by Jakob Ammann. By the 18th century, a group of Amish had crossed the seas to the United States, where they made their home, and today the Amish are now one of the fastest-growing populations in the world.

Everyone knows who she is supposed to marry. Except her heart doesn’t agree. Verity Mast is the bishop’s granddaughter—devout, community-minded, and quietly suffocating under the weight of everyone’s expectations. She teaches Sunday school, keeps her head covered, and has never given anyone a reason to doubt she will marry an Amish farmer and anchor the next generation of Sycamore Bend. Then she meets Colton Reinhardt at a livestock auction, and everything she thought she knew tilts sideways. Colton is Mennonite. He drives a truck. He has electricity. He reads his Bible in English ...

When Lizzy Hershberger turns fourteen, her schooling ends at eighth grade, and she has no choice but to leave home to work as an unpaid maid for another family. To avoid being rejected by her ultra-conservative Swartzentruber Amish family and community, Lizzy is forced to abandon her dreams because they are “too worldly.” After being raped by an Amish deacon over two dozen times, Lizzy makes her first attempt at “jumping the fence” to pursue a non-Amish lifestyle. But without any modern life experience or education, Lizzy must decide whether the risks of this unpredictable and ...

Amish Knitting Circle is a serial novel. Episodes 1-8 comprise Granny's first knitting circle, when she invites 5 women who are heavy on her heart to knit for charity. Granny Weaver believes these women could be stronger if spun together. She invites five women, all with various issues such as infertility, poor body image and marital problems and haunting secrets. As they meet from October to April to knit shawls for charity, they begin to deal with problems, together, in community, the Amish way. Amish Knitting Circle: Complete Series includes: Beginnings ~ Granny Weaver starts the circle,...

Their fathers haven’t spoken in years. Now the bishop says they have to fix it themselves. When a storm brings down the old oak tree straddling the property line between the Lengacher and Hostettler farms, both families claim the timber. The fathers—stubborn, proud, and nursing a grudge that started with a survey stake a generation ago—refuse to settle it. Bishop Harlan has had enough. He tells them to work it out on their own. And somehow, it falls to their eldest children to negotiate. Patience Lengacher has run her father’s household since her mother passed. She is practical, ...

Three plain travelers. One lost daughter. A Christmas journey into the heart of New York City. Years ago, Lydia Stoltzfus ran from her strict Amish life toward the glittering promise of the Englisch world. She hasn’t written home since. Now, at twenty-one and heavily pregnant, she finds herself alone in a noisy city apartment, clutching a part-time job, a pile of unpaid bills, and a heart full of regret. The baby’s father has moved on. The skyscrapers that once felt exciting now crowd in like cold stone walls. Back in Lancaster County, a worn letter finally arrives. Lydia is alive, ...

Edna's friend, Verna Bontrager, has a problem. Her outspoken 20-year-old daughter, Myrna, has been fired from her job. Again. Myrna's family really needs her to chip in, but she's clearly unsuited to customer service - not to mention that her sharp tongue scares away any boy who might come courting. But Edna has an idea - and his name is Ezekiel Riehl.

She teaches children to find their voices. His daughter hasn’t spoken in a year. Alma Riehl has been the Sycamore Bend schoolteacher for eight years. She is patient, perceptive, and quietly content with her life—or so she tells herself. At thirty and unmarried, she has made peace with the fact that the men in her community see the schoolteacher, not the woman. Then Niles Kauffman enrolls his seven-year-old daughter mid-term. Effie hasn’t spoken a word since her mother died. She carries a sketchbook everywhere and watches the world with wide, knowing eyes. Niles is gruff, impatient, ...

From bestselling author Beth Wiseman come four sweet stories centered around celebrations in the Amish community: rumschpringe, baptism, weddings, and Christmas. The Gift of Sisters Hannah and Rachel are fraternal twins approaching their sixteenth birthday—a time when they will be allowed to...

From bestselling author Beth Wiseman--winner of the Carol and Inspirational Reader's Choice Awards--comes the beloved Daughters of the Promise series. With over two million books sold, Wiseman crafts heartfelt Amish fiction that blends rich emotional depth with compelling romance and themes of...

She has one season to save her farm. He has nowhere else to go. Susannah Zook has held her late husband’s farm together through sheer will and sleepless nights. But with harvest season bearing down and fences falling faster than she can mend them, the young widow is running out of time—and too proud to admit it. When Bishop Harlan sends a quiet stranger from another district to help bring in the crops, Susannah wants nothing to do with charity. Titus Hershberger is the youngest of five brothers with no land, no inheritance, and no place to call his own. He shows up with one bag and a ...

Growing up Amish and leaving the fold, Emma Gingerich left her Amish community in Eagleville, Missouri, at the age of 18. Her memoir Runaway Amish Girl: The Great Escape captivates even the timid listener. Disagreeing with the beliefs of Amish traditions and upbringing, the pressure became too much for her to bear. Forced to make a personal decision, Emma found the courage to leave the only life she had ever known. She had no idea the emotional turmoil she'd inflict on her family and friends.

Can love take root when two hearts grow from different soil? After the tragic loss of her husband, Emma Hostetler has devoted herself entirely to the one place that brings her peace—her garden. Nestled in the heart of Hope Springs, it’s a sanctuary of color, beauty, and quiet reflection. While her Amish family gently urges her to open her heart again, Emma clings tightly to her past in fear of betrayal. Miles away from the life he once knew, Luke Duncan is a Chicago landscaper who has left the chaos of city life behind. Tired of deadlines, demanding clients, and the emptiness that ...

Emma never planned to spend Christmas stranded in an Amish farmhouse with a widower and his two children. A broken-down car, an empty bank account, and a December snowstorm leave Englisch Emma with nowhere to go. The small-town mechanic and the bishop’s wife arrange a temporary solution: a spare room in the farmhouse of Eli King, a quiet Amish widower still finding his footing after loss. Emma expects awkward silences and strict rules. Instead she finds flour-dusted kitchens, dawn chores, wide-eyed children who desperately want Christmas to feel normal again… and a man whose gentle ...

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.

Nothing would stop this teacher from getting her schoolhouse back, even if it meant picking up a hammer herself. At twenty-six, Rachel Fisher has poured every ounce of her devotion into her classroom. Love once whispered to her heart, but she has long since silenced it, content with the laughter and learning of her students. But when a fierce tornado tears through their Amish community—leaving homes battered and the beloved schoolhouse in ruins—Rachel's world is shaken. With no funds to rebuild, the community elders offer a surprising solution: a traveling carpenter has volunteered his ...

When good intentions get tangled, the only fitting answer is mercy made practical. When Hannah Zook finds two cast-iron skillets in her hope chest and her cherished hand‑pieced Snow Star quilt gone, she chooses prayerful patience over panic. Soon the schoolhouse basement overflows with baskets—a stack of gifts meant for December brides across Maple Glen. A weary volunteer’s good intentions have turned gifts into a tangle—until Hannah, the quiet seamstress, and Daniel Stoltzfus, a steady woodworker, pair a ledger and colored thread to translate the hidden message. Threads of a ...

One misplaced parcel, one snowy lane, and a quiet love that grows by the light of a lantern. When the first real winter snow hides Willow Lane, Lydia Zook’s neat life as a village seamstress is nudged off course by misdelivered letters and a stubborn neighbor who means well. With timbers, beeswax, and steady hands, Amos Byler—the quiet carpenter whose eyes are as careful as his joinery—helps build a simple post cupboard to keep the lane's parcels safe. What starts as a practical solution becomes a tender work of repair—of relationships, of reputations, and of two hearts learning to ...

Discover a world where simplicity reigns and devotion guides every action. Plain Faith: Exploring Amish and Shaker Beliefs and Culture brings you two books in one—a captivating, in-depth exploration of America’s Amish and Shaker communities. In this double guide, The Amish for Beginners: An Introductory Guide to Beliefs and Practices and The Shakers: Understanding Beliefs and Practices reveal the rich traditions, compelling lifestyles, and unwavering faith of two of the country’s most intriguing groups. This isn’t just a book; it’s your invitation to step inside a world of ...

In an area of Pennsylvania called The Big Valley, a uniquely blended Amish community thrives in which three distinct groups of Amish identify themselves by the colors of their buggies' tops - white, black, or yellow. Join New York Times best-selling author Wanda E. Brunstetter, her daughter-in-law, and her granddaughter in experiencing the stories of three young women who search for faith and love within this special place.