Bountiful, Pennsylvania, is near enough to Pittsburgh that many people know of a Mennonite halfway house where lapsed Amish people can go to get a start in the outside world. This unusually fraught account of crime, broken promises and hasty loving makes for an unusual Amish romance, featuring a bookbinder’s daughter and THE PREACHER’S SON.
To fit with the concept of a peaceful inspirational tale, the story begins just after the shocking actions have occurred. Now the community has to come to terms with what they see as wrongs, and face the many consequences. Abe Yoder’s grown son Isaiah appears to be the most harmed when his father is jailed for his part in a swindle orchestrated by some Englisch men, who pretended to collect for a charity. The charismatic preacher convinced many Amish families to invest, so when that fell through, many see it as only just that Isaiah loses his family’s farm and respectability. He isn’t even allowed to contact his shunned, jailed father.
Bethany Glick works in her own dad’s bookbinding shop – I love that we learn about the trade. In this first ‘The Infamous Amish’ story, she’s secretly dreading facing her family and friends with the news that her young fiancé has dumped her and run off to the big world. She’d been so sure of Micah Weibe. He was the only man who ever drove her home in his buggy, and he might be the last, because her reputation is ruined.
Isaiah’s sister Lovina has also disappeared and several young people are leaving. Bethany’s wary of gossip about her upcoming wedding to her father’s apprentice Micah being cancelled, but would the Amish community approve of Isaiah taking the job? He might prove a bad influence, but doesn’t the Lord tell us to forgive? The rules seem strict and people narrow minded to outsiders, and double standards are still present. But Bethany and her dad and mamm are running out of options.
I had a good time reading this romance by Patricia Johns, and met quite a few scenarios that don’t appear in usual Amish stories. Young women the world over have been faced with unpalatable choices. Isaiah, while a responsible young man, is considered a poor match now, with no land and a black cloud over his family. Who could blame him if he left to make his own way in the city? I like the way he always acts to care for his buggy horse, and treats other people respectfully, whatever their opinion of him. As to whether the people fear that family members will ‘go Mennonite,’ I expect each community has slightly different outlooks, and this one doesn’t seem to use any modern conveniences. I’ll be keen to read more of this series, and recommend THE PREACHER’S SON to anyone wanting a tension-filled romance – sometimes we need to see a situation from the outside to understand our own lives.
In this poignant new series, Patricia Johns introduces an Amish family striving to reclaim the promise of love, marriage, and community . . .
The Amish residents of Bountiful, Pennsylvania, are stunned when preacher Abe Yoder is imprisoned for fraud. For Abe’s son, Isaiah, the news cuts doubly deep. His daet’s misdeeds have cost Isaiah his family’s land and their good name. To support his sisters, he takes a job in the Glick family’s book-binding shop, though it means working alongside a woman who has every reason to resent him. Yet his attraction to Bethany Glick’s beauty and warmth is undimmed . . .
Isaiah’s daet’s actions helped drive Bethany’s fiancé to the Englischer world, and cost her own father his savings. Their shop has need of Isaiah’s brawn and skill, but if she’s to start over after heartbreak, she needs a man she can trust. Not a Yoder. But Isaiah isn’t giving up so easily. And when Bethany faces a dilemma, there may be a way for each to find not just redemption, but a joyful new love . . .
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