Book picks similar to
Hester on the Run by Linda Byler


amish
historical-fiction
fiction
pennsylvania

Miriam's Secret


Jerry S. Eicher - 2015
    Eicher (more than 600,000 books sold) brings new characters and surprising challenges to lovers of Amish fiction in the Land of Promise series.In this first book, Miriam Yoder has a secret. Her compassionate care for Amos Bland during his last days resulted in her receiving a large inheritance. When Ivan Mast indicates his intentions at romance, Miriam suspects he's discovered her hidden wealth and has plans that aren't inspired by his love for her.Seeking a fresh start where no one knows her, Miriam accepts a teaching position in faraway Oklahoma where she meets Wayne Yutzy, a local greenhouse employee. His interest in her seems genuine and when he proposes, Miriam accepts. Happiness surely awaits the newly engaged couple....or does it?Book one in the Land of Promise series

The Wings of Morning


Murray Pura - 2012
    Jude has also fallen in love with flying that new-fangled invention, the aeroplane.The Amish communities have rejected the telephone and have forbidden motorcar ownership but not yet electricity or aeroplanes.Though exempt from military service on religious grounds, Jude is manipulated by unscrupulous army officers into enlisting in order to protect several Amish men. No one in the community understands Jude's sudden enlistment and so he is shunned. Lyyndaya's despair deepens at the reports that Jude has been shot down in France. In her grief, she turns to nursing Spanish flu victims in Philadelphia. After many months of caring for stricken soldiers, Lyyndaya is stunned when an emaciated Jude turns up in her ward.Lyyndaya's joy at receiving Jude back from the dead is quickly diminished when the Amish leadership insist the shunning remain in force. How then can they marry without the blessing of their families? Will happiness elude them forever?Welcome a powerful new voice to the world of Amish fiction

The Fiddler


Beverly Lewis - 2012
    Weary of endless rehearsals and performances, Amy sets out on a road trip through the Pennsylvania mountains. She leaves her cell phone behind so life's demands can't intrude on her solitude. She doesn't know, nor care, where she will end up.When her car breaks down deep in the mountains, Amy realizes the flaw in her "no cell phone" plan. She abandons her car and walks the winding roads, searching for help. Following the smell of woodsmoke and the sound of music, she finds a rustic log cabin. There she meets a young Amishman--and through him a community--that will change her life forever.

Hannah's Choice


Jan Drexler - 2016
    In 1842, this corner of Lancaster County is settled and peaceful--yet problems lurk beneath the placid façade. Hannah's father worries about the spread of liberal ideas from their Mennonite and Brethren neighbors. And Hannah blames herself for a tragedy that struck their home nine years ago. She strives to be the one person who can bind the threads of her family together in spite of her mother's ongoing depression and her sister's rejection of their family. But her world is threatening to unravel.When two young men seek her hand in marriage--one offering the home she craves and the other promising the adventure of following God's call west--Hannah must make a choice. Faithfully perform her duties to her family? Or defy her father and abandon her community?

An Amish Spring


Sarah Price - 2015
    While she’s attended youth gatherings and singings in the past, something feels just a little bit different now. As the eldest child, she has a lot of responsibilities, especially with her aging grandparents living in the smaller house attached to the Riehls’ farmhouse and with Drusilla's mother expecting a baby soon. Follow the story of this young Amish woman as she comes of age in the springtime of her life, balancing her commitment to faith, family, and friends. The Amish Seasons Series, a four-part series, follows the story of Drusilla Riehl as she passes through the seasons of life. The first of a four book series, An Amish Spring introduces readers to the Riehl family and their Amish community, both Amish and Mennonite, and will be sure to delight as you learn more about the Amish religion and culture from Sarah Price, one of the leading bestselling authors of Amish Christian fiction who bases her stories and books on authentic experience growing up Mennonite and living among the Amish. Approximately 110 pages

An Unexpected Amish Proposal


Rachel J. Good - 2021
    Good’s heartwarming Amish romance series, set in a bustling Pennsylvania community . . . When an organic farm causes rents to skyrocket at the Valley Green Farmer’s Market, Fern Blauch’s family baked goods stand is driven to the edge of eviction. . . . Until a mysterious temporary reprieve. Fern is confused when she discovers the benefactor is barbecued chicken stand owner—and her longtime crush—Gideon Hartzler. She’s grateful, but pridefully tells him she intends to pay him back. If only she can find a new place to sell her wares . . . To stay competitive, and help as many others as he can, Gideon expands his stand to provide full meals—including dessert. That’s where Fern comes in. As the two work long hours, side-by-side, business booms—and so does their attraction. Still, the demands of caring for aging parents and struggling relatives cause them to hide any feelings beyond friendship. But as new challenges emerge and Gideon and Fern turn more deeply to their faith, and to each other, will love find a place at their table?

When Mercy Rains


Kim Vogel Sawyer - 2014
    And He redeems them. Suzanne Zimmerman was only seventeen and pregnant when her shamed mother quietly sent her away from their Old Order Mennonite community in Kansas. With her old home, family, and first love firmly behind her, Suzanne moved to Indiana, became a nurse, and raised a daughter, Alexa, on her own. Now, nearly twenty years later, an unexpected letter arrives from Kansas. Her brother asks her to bring her nursing abilities home and care for their ailing mother. His request requires that Suzanne face a family that may not have forgiven her and a strict faith community. It also means seeing Paul Aldrich, her first love. Paul, widowed with an eight-year-old son, is relieved to see Suzanne again, giving him the chance to beg her forgiveness for his past indiscretion. But when he meets Alexa, his guilt flickers in the glare of Suzanne's prolonged secret--one that changes everything. Suzanne had let go of any expectation for forgiveness long ago. Does she dare hope in mercy-and how will her uncovered past affect the people she loves the most?

White Christmas Pie


Wanda E. Brunstetter - 2008
    Here you'll meet Will Henderson, a young man tortured by his past, and Karen Yoder, a young woman looking for answers. Add a desperate father searching for his son, and you have all the ingredients for a first-class romance that will inspire and enthrall.

A Simple Winter


Rosalind Lauer - 2011
    While investigating an unsolved crime, Remy winds up in the tightly woven Amish community of Lancaster County, the last place she would ever expect to find herself. The story leads her to Adam King and his ten younger siblings, who are trying to sustain their warm, loving home in the wake of the murder of their parents. Although Remy tries to remain professional, she is captivated by the Kings. With her own mother gone and her father disengaged from their relationship, Remy longs for a home and a family just like that of these good, simple people.Suddenly patriarch of his large family, Adam struggles to do the right thing for his siblings, his community, and his God. He neither wants nor needs the complications that spirited Remy brings. But as much as he tries to push her away, even as he counts all the ways this lovely outsider cannot possibly remain in his world—or in his heart—the wondrous light she shines upon his troubled soul cannot be denied. Adam can only pray for the strength and the faith to get this Englisher girl out of their lives for good.Snowbound with the Kings, Remy experiences the wonder and the chores of a simple winter among the Plain People, as well as the friendship of their warm community. When her peaceful interlude ends, does she dare to reveal a killer in their midst, knowing that she may lose the love of this special family and this remarkable man?

Naomi's Story


Melanie Schmidt - 2013
    Sure, she wants to get married and start a family just like everyone else, but Naomi also uses her God-given talent to run a successful business, one she doesn’t want to be forced to give up for a family. When tragedy strikes Naomi’s family, she meets a young man who may just be the answer to all of her prayers, but will he fall for Naomi…or for her sister? Curl up with the first story in the brand new Romance in Amish Country and discover what the Lord has planned for Naomi.

Beside Still Waters


Tricia Goyer - 2011
    But when her older brother chooses the world’s path following his rumschpringe, and a younger sibling begins showing interest in Englisch ways, Marianna’s parents move the family to Montana.Although she is also in her rumschpringe years and not obligated to move, Marianna makes the journey to dutifully help her mother who is expecting another child. Surprisingly, from strangers on the cross-country train ride to the less rigid stance of the new Montana community, many Englisch influences awaken within Marianna—and even her father—the desire to pursue a deeper kind of joy and love for God.After an accident, Marianna tells her friend Ben a defining story about the Sommer family, and his response further illumines the active relationship God seeks with His followers. In due time, she learns the move from Indiana was not about losing anything, but finding out who God really is. Despite all the shake-ups, Marianna feels a sweet peace, like still waters, in her soul.

Friends to the End


Shelley Shepard Gray - 2019
     When Andy’s baby sister Trish gets stranded at the family cabin during a massive blizzard, he calls upon his best friends—the Magnificent Eight—to go to his sister’s rescue. Andy knows that several members of the Eight will drop everything to help, and they’re the perfect solution because the Amish aren’t hindered by stalled cars—they can travel just fine in their buggies. But when Logan, Trish’s secret crush, is the first to volunteer to save her, she can’t help but worry that, despite the freezing temperatures, being alone with Logan might mean that things heat up pretty fast. Filled with Shelley Shepard Gray’s signature “heart-warming, heart-stopping” (Wendy Corsi Staub, New York Times bestselling author) prose, Friends to the End is an evocative and endearing romance.

The Promise of an Angel


Ruth Reid - 2011
    She longs for the day when her parents will allow Levi Plank to officially court her.But on the day Judith suspects Levi will ask her parent's permission, her younger brother Samuel has an accident under her charge. Rushing to Samuel's aid, Judith spies a strange man helping him; a man she later believes was an angel.When she shares her conviction with her family and close friends, she is shocked to find that no one believes her, including Levi. In the days following the accident, the angel visits Judith with information that may guide her down the path of faith, should she choose to follow.As her community slowly distances themselves, only one person is willing to stand up for her?the bishop's son, Andrew Lapp. But can he convince the settlement to listen to her? With a show of faith that flies in the face of her conservative upbringing, can Judith hold strong to the promise that there are even greater things in store for those who believe in God's miracles?

Paradise Valley


Dale Cramer - 2010
    Caleb Bender and his neighbors are arrested for neglect, with the state ordering the children be placed in an institution. Among them are Caleb's teenage daughter, Rachel, and the boy she has her eye on, Jake Weaver. Romance blooms between the two when Rachel helps Jake escape the children's home.Searching for a place to relocate his family where no such laws apply, Caleb learns there's inexpensive land for sale in Mexico, a place called Paradise Valley. Despite rumors of instability in the wake of the Mexican revolution, the Amish community decides this is their answer. Since it was Caleb's idea, he and his family will be the pioneers. They will send for the others once he's established a foothold and assessed the situation. Caleb's daughters are thrown into turmoil. Rachel doesn't want to leave Jake. Her sister, Emma, who has been courting Levi Mullet, fears her dreams of marriage will be dashed. Miriam has never had a beau and is acutely aware there will be no prospects in Mexico. Once there, they meet Domingo, a young man and guide who takes a liking to Miriam, something her father would never approve. While Paradise Valley is everything they'd hoped it would be, it isn't long before the bandits start giving them trouble, threatening to upset the fledgling Amish settlement, even putting their lives in danger. Thankfully no one has been harmed so far, anyway.

The Amish Wanderer


Laura V. Hilton - 2017
    Tongues haven't stopped clacking in Jamesport, MO, since her daed, the bishop, was admitted to a mental hospital after hurting their small Amish community. But her sharpest wounds Bethany hides from prying eyes, quietly biding her time until she can take a chance at a new life away from Jamesport and away from God.Searching for a HomeSilas Beiler was kicked out of his own family's home. Dogged by a rough childhood and a family who blames him for each new disaster, he begins hitchhiking across the country, sleeping in barns where he can, working for food when possible; headed for Pennsylvania, in the hope of some stability. A Memory of LemonadeWhen Bethany spies a man asleep in the hayloft, she first fears the return of an unwelcome suitor. But when it is Silas who turns and speaks, the memories flood back: a happy summer six years ago full of lemonade, long walks, and budding courtship. Now, however, those months of bliss seem naive and idyllic. Will their old love overcome new pain? Or will hurt and rejection continue to haunt their path?