Frank Carlson Library

Novelist Cindy Woodsmall and Miriam Flaud, an Old Order Amish woman, offer a view into their friendship and the traditions and ways of the Amish as they celebrate womanhood, God, and the special place of family in their lives.

"After Emma's parents died, her disagreeable grandmother often sent her to stay with the Eshes, a nearby family. When her grandmother died, Emma was sent to live with distant relatives. While Emma was comfortable at their home, she never felt she truly belonged. On her twentieth birthday, things took a turn for the worse when her uncle announced he was finding her a suitable husband. Emma was shocked to learn the man was Thomas Esh, who was said to...

"After her mother's untimely death, a twenty-year-old Amish woman has a difficult decision to make: Choose to break from the Plain community and her boyfriend to live in the English world permanently ... or join the Amish church. Rachel Hershberger wants to get away from her Amish home in Fields Corner, Ohio. For a year she's been trying to fill her mother's shoes by taking care of her father and siblings. She had quit her job at the bakery so she...

Alone in life, Karen Glick was pleasantly surprised when she met Jason, the Amish bishop's nephew. She had been told he was a most eligible bachelor. At twenty eight, Karen had almost given up hope of finding a suitable husband. Seeing her best friend's unhappy marriage made her all the more cautious. When a sudden windfall came Karen's way, Karen and Jason were thrust together. While Jason holds onto his secrets, Karen wonders if he is too good to...

Abandoned by her converted Amish husband, Mary is left pregnant, broke and alone. When further tragedy strikes, Mary is forced to make a heart-breaking decision.

"Schoolteacher Judith Hershberger yearns to learn more despite the educational restriction imposed on her because of her Amish upbringing. Wanting more than an eighth grade education, she puts off joining the Amish faith. During her rumspringa, she'll be able to obtain her high school diploma without being shunned. Her father is afraid Judith will leave their Amish community if she passes the test. He knows she's unhappy that Amish women are expected...

"Can a little girl...Heal the wounds of the past? When Faith Mast inherits her great aunt's Amish farmhouse, she needs to sell it fast—before someone in the community discovers her daughter's real identity. Accepting Josiah Brenneman's help with repairs is risky but might be the perfect solution. That is, until the man she once loved and left wins the little girl's heart. With secrets still between them, will Faith choose the future she's always...

"The second book in The Long Road Home series, a unique and gripping Amish romance trilogy set in the South at the turn of the century. At the end of Banished, Clinton has died and May is left to fend for herself in a city where she knows almost no one and has no way of earning a living. Not knowing where Oba had wound up and realizing she can't return to her uncle's home after all he'd put her through, she decides to journey to the Amish community...

"Rachel Beiler loves her job as the teacher in her Amish community. She's obedient, humble, and compliant and tries to keep the ordnung to the best of her ability. But Rachel has a secret--something that could get her shunned if she's found out. She loves knowledge and yearns for a college education. After serving a dozen years in the Army, Rob Lanier has returned from Afghanistan. But now that he's home again, he's constantly reminded of his family's...

"Nora Beachy loves her life. She works in the community store in West Kootenai, takes care of her family and courts with Levi Raber. She and Levi plan to marry, but Levi wants to wait until he has the money to buy them a house before he pops the question. Nora doesn't want to wait. Is there something keeping Levi from marrying her? Nora's peaceful existence is swept away when wildfires threaten her family's home. She's forced to evacuate to Libby...