At age twenty, Joel Umble, future Bishop of Ice Mountain, is strong, wise, and handsome. No wonder nineteen-year-old Martha Yoder has always noticed him. Still, she dares not trust that her dreams of him could become a reality. Where Joel is striking, she is plain. Where he is educated, sheβs had no time for schooling. Caring for her frail grossmuder and aging parents has taken all the time she might have spent being courted by boys her own age. And then there is the matter of Judah Umble, Joelβs harsh older bruder, whoβs cast his cold eye on pursuing her since she was sixteen.
The only kind of cold Martha is interested in is the exhilarating chill of bathing in the creek in winter. It is there that she escapes her caresβand where she just may find the answer to her future in a most unexpected wayβand gain faith that together, she and Joel will have a very special place among the Amish of Ice Mountainβ¦
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