This Amish romance anthology pairs a sweet story of connection with a suspenseful cold case mystery. The Amish Midwife by Patricia Davids Amish midwife Anne Stoltzfus is shocked at neighbor Joseph Lapp’s request. Now responsible for his baby niece, Joseph is in over his head and needs a nanny fast. Soon they’re bonding over baby Leah, and when Joseph makes an offer of marriage, Anne realizes that taking a chance could mean love—and family—are waiting just across the fence. Plain Pursuit by Alison Stone When her brother is killed in a small Amish town, Anna Quinn finds she’s an unwelcome outsider. FBI agent Eli Miller left his Amish community long ago, but he’s discovering a cold case from his past has mysterious connections to Anna’s loss. Desperate to uncover the truth, Anna and Eli are faced with stony silence and secrets that someone wants to keep buried.

The Amish midwife : "Amish midwife Anne Stoltzfus is shocked at neighbor Joseph Lapp's request. Now responsible for his baby niece, Joseph is in over his head and needs a nanny fast. Soon they're bonding over baby Leah, and when Joseph makes an offer of marriage, Anne realizes that taking a chance could mean love--and family--is waiting just across the fence."--Page [4] of cover.

Gould Offers a New Amish Series in Idyllic Lancaster County At age twenty, Jessica Bachman left her two beloved sisters and her Amish community after clashing with the new bishop about her role in the family and the future of their farm. She tried to convince Silas Kemp, who'd been courting her for two years, to join her, but when he said no, she fled anyway. Three years later, she returns home for the first time since leaving Lancaster to attend her father's funeral. Her arrival back revives all sorts of emotions--yearnings and sorrows alike. Jessica knows things will never return to how they were. But in seeing Silas again, she can't help but wonder what might have been. Struggling to decide where her next step should take her, she learns the story of a Revolutionary War-era ancestor that echoes her own choices. Will Jessica leave her family and community forever, or is there peace and healing and love yet to come?

Bestselling author Mindy Starns Clark and coauthor Leslie Gould offer readers The Amish Nanny, Book 2 in the Women of Lancaster County series, which tells the stories of young Plain women as they explore their roots, connect with family, and discover true love. Amish-raised Ada Rupp knows it’s time to make a commitment to the faith and join the church, especially if she wants a future with the handsome Amish widower Will Gundy. But when she has the chance to travel to Switzerland as the caregiver of a young child, she leaps at the opportunity. Anxious to learn more about her forebears, Ada enlists the help of a young Mennonite scholar named Daniel, but even as she develops feelings for him, she cannot get Will from her mind—or her heart. At a crossroads, Ada must decide what she is willing to give up from the past in order to embrace her future.

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 a man who becomes a deacon in her community, Lizzy makes her first attempt at "jumping the fence" to pursue a non-Amish lifestyle. But without any modern life experience or education, Lizzy considers whether the risks of this unpredictable and dangerous world are worth losing the ties to her Amish friends and family forever. Almost thirty years later, after she has created a new life for herself, her small community is rocked by disturbing sexual assault allegations. Lizzy must decide whether to keep silent for her newly-created family's sake or come forward against the church to advocate for the Amish children she left behind. In 2019, Lizzy Hershberger successfully brought her abuser to justice in an extraordinarily rare case addressing sexual abuse in the Amish church. She faced death threats and intense pressure to stop telling her story. Lizzy refused to back down, and she forged ahead to spark a national movement bringing awareness to the prevalence of sexual assault in isolated communities protected by religious liberties. This gripping true crime memoir reveals the truth behind one of America's most revered and secretive religious sects-hidden behind the blue curtains of the Amish lifestyle.

Take a peek beneath the bonnet. Browse the inspirational fiction section of your local bookstore, and you will likely find cover after cover depicting virtuous young women cloaked in modest dresses and wearing a pensive or playful expression. They hover innocently above sun-drenched pastures or rustic country lanes, often with a horse-drawn buggy in the background—or the occasional brawny stranger. Romance novels with Amish protagonists, such as the best-selling trailblazer The Shunning by Beverly Lewis, are becoming increasingly popular with a largely evangelical female audience. Thrill of the Chaste is the first book to analyze this growing trend in romance fiction and to place it into the context of contemporary literature, religion, and popular culture. Valerie Weaver-Zercher combines research and interviews with devoted readers, publishers, and authors to produce a lively and provocative examination of the Amish romance novel. She discusses strategies that literary agents and booksellers use to drive the genre’s popularity. By asking questions about authenticity, cultural appropriation, and commodification, Thrill of the Chaste also considers Amish fiction’s effects on Amish and non-Amish audiences alike.

A dusty carved box containing two locks of hair and a century-old letter regarding property in Switzerland, and a burning desire to learn about her biological family lead nurse-midwife Lexie Jaeger from her home in Oregon to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. There she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die. Lexie steps in to assume Marta’s patient load even as she continues the search for her birth family, and from her patients she learns the true meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch word demut, which means “to let be” as she changes from a woman who wants to control everything to a woman who depends on God. A compelling story about a search for identity and the ability to trust that God securely holds our whole life—past, present, and future.