Amish fiction has become a very popular subset of the Christian fiction genre. The emphasis on strong family values, hard work, religious devotion, and a desire to live without modern conveniences are elements many readers find appealing. Many of these titles are in series. Find out the order of books in favorite series by visiting www.fantasticfiction.co.uk and remember that books not owned by the Library System may often be borrowed through the Interlibrary Loan program.
If you’ve never read an Amish novel, the Manatee County Public Library System has many authors for you to try.
Amish fiction got kick-started with the publication in 1997 of “The Shunning” by Beverly Lewis. The first title in Lewis’s Heritage of Lancaster County trilogy, “The Shunning” was inspired by her grandmother’s “shunning” by her ultra-strict father and subsequently her old-order Mennonite community. The trilogy continues with “The Confession” and “The Reckoning.” Lewis, known as the “reigning queen of Amish fiction,” grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country and is a prolific writer, with more than 70 novels and seven Amish fiction series to her name! Her most recent series, The Rose Trilogy, revolves around the relationship of two sisters, one of whom marries an “Englisher.” Lewis has written that she hopes her books “will offer a faith-based solution to the problems of the human condition” and that her characters “are searching for universal truths, just as readers are.”
Wanda E. Brunstetter has written more than 45 books and six series. Her first Amish novel, “A Merry Heart,” featured an embittered Amish schoolteacher and is the first book in her Brides of Lancaster County trilogy. In an online interview, Brunstetter discusses another trilogy, The Daughters of Lancaster County, that centers on the kidnapping of an Amish child. In The Sisters of Holmes County series, the Hostettler family’s faith is tested when they fall inexplicably under attack.
Influenced by Tony Hillerman’s Navajo mystery novels, P.L. Gaus has penned seven Amish mystery novels, beginning with “Blood of the Prodigal.” Gaus has traveled in and around Holmes County, Ohio (home to the world’s largest Amish and Mennonite population) for more than 30 years. The author states that the purpose of his books is “to illuminate Amish culture for English people who want to know more.”
Speaking Volumes, written by Manatee County Public Library System staff members, is published each Sunday. Access the library online at www.mymanatee.org/library.html.
