Here’s an interesting modern retelling of the fairytale from Middle Europe. There are probably no wolves in the woods of Maine, but there are sometimes coyotes, and that can be quite scary enough. AMISH RED RIDING HOOD follows Scarlett Schrock, in an unusual tale of the Plain people hunting for supper.
The oddest part for me is an Amish girl named Scarlett. The competent young woman lives with her mother, since her father died out hunting in the woods. At the time, the little girl told others that her father had been killed by a large coyote, but they dismissed her story. Even her kind neighbour, widower Jacob Fisher, doesn’t believe her. As Scarlett lives and works in Unity, Maine, the whole community is aware of her resolution to wear red in honour of her late father. They think she is prideful, stubborn, flashy and un-Amish. No wonder, they say, she doesn’t have a beau.
Nathaniel Raber decides that he’d be happy to court Scarlett, provided she changes her ways, drops her daft story, and wears plainer clothes. Naturally, Scarlett isn’t that desperate. She gets on with helping her Mammi and Grossmammi, fetching rabbit for pie by hunting with bow or rifle near her grandmother’s cottage in the Maine woods. She even brings venison from the occasional deer. But one night, after reports of dead farm animals are spread, a coyote howls.
I love this adventure, which is part of the Amish Fairytale series by Ashley Emma. At the start, the author explains that she sets all her stories in Maine, and the Amish here have been permitted to wear red instead of orange while hunting. She also tells us that wolves are no longer found in Maine, and if they were they would be legally protected. So a coyote was her substitute, a predator with much the same behaviours. I hadn’t read any of the earlier stories but I’ll have to pick one from the previous five. Fairytale retelling is a great trope and we also learn a lot about the kind of young men who wish to court Scarlett, what their mindsets are, and why they would persist in asking her to change her ways. We also see Scarlett find out who her real friends are, and we learn to believe someone’s actions instead of words if they might be lying.
The original Red Riding Hood is a cautionary tale, but AMISH RED RIDING HOOD makes the girl the huntress instead of the victim. I was more than happy with the outcome of the romance.
Scarlett Schrock witnessed her father being killed by a rare coyote attack in the woods of Unity, Maine when she was sixteen, but not everyone in her Amish community believes her.
Perhaps she was so overcome with grief that she imagined the entire thing. Scarlett always did have a wild imagination.
But Scarlett knows what she saw, and she's determined to hunt down the coyote that took her father's life.
After ten years with no coyote attacks, something vicious suddenly begins killing off livestock in the community at night. Scarlett knows the offending coyote has returned, so when a hunting party forms to hunt it down, she's one of the first to volunteer. Amish women do hunt across America, and there are no rules against it in Unity.
The Amish are now legally allowed to wear red instead of vibrant orange while hunting in Maine, so Scarlett wears a deep red cloak in her father's memory, and not just when she's hunting.
Nathaniel Raber would ask Scarlett to marry him if only she would stop hunting and wearing that ridiculous, flashy red cloak, and he isn't afraid to let her know. Scarlett's Grossmammi, her grandmother, persistently tries to play matchmaker and hopes to see Scarlett married before she dies, but Scarlett can't stand Nathaniel at all and knows in her heart that God has someone out there just for her.
During the hunt, Nathaniel insists Scarlett won't last a day in the frigid temperatures, but her father taught her well.
Jacob Fisher, her neighbor, has been in love with Scarlett for a while but can't find the courage to tell her how he feels. He loves watching her play with his two children, Sadie and Eli, who adore her, and he admires her courage and spunk.
As the hunting party treks deeper into the frozen woods, they are faced with much more than a mere coyote. Will Scarlett prove herself before the coyote kills one of their own, or can she put aside her pride and work with Jacob to stay alive?
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