About this item
As an Amish wife and mother struggles to hold her family together, a story from the past teaches her how to face her daily challenges with strength and love . . .In modern day central Pennsylvania, Judith Wegler tries to heal the growing rift between her husband, Isaac, and his teenage brother Joseph - whom Judith and Isaac have raised as their own ever since both brothers lost their parents and siblings in a horrific fire. Meanwhile, Isaac's hurtful silence about this tragic past has robbed Judith of any certainty of her husband's love.But when Judith's grandmother gifts her with an antique study table, she discovers a hidden packet of letters that changes her life . . .In 1953, widow Mattie Lapp fights against the county's attempts to force Amish children to attend a consolidated public school, even if it means arrest and imprisonment.
About the Author
I realized I wanted to be a writer at age eight, when I read my first Nancy Drew novel, The Secret of the Old Clock. Most little girl reach the end of that book wanting to be Nancy. I wanted to be the person who created the story! The dream lay hidden for years while I became a teacher, married, had children...all the usual things. But eventually it re-surfaced, and I began to write, beginning with short children's stories for Sunday school take-home papers. It seemed a long time until that first acceptance, but eventually I began to sell. After some three hundred published short stories, I finally found the courage to work on the novel I'd always wanted to write. Sixty-some published novels later, I still feel the same excitement every time I begin a new book--a mix of not believing I can do it combined with an overwhelming urge to see the story on the page. A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania and my own Pennsylvania Dutch roots eventually led me to the books I'm writing now about the Amish. The Pleasant Valley Amish series from Berkley Books are longer, more complex emotional stories with Amish main characters, while my forthcoming HQN suspense novels are more adventure-filled books set in Pennsylvania Dutch country. I'm also writing a Love Inspired series about the Amish, The Brides of Lost Creek. When I'm not writing, I'm busy with church activities, traveling, and spending time with my three children and six beautiful grandchildren.
