If you were looking for Amish fiction in, say 2002 or 2004, your choice would have been limited to a handful of selections, most by Beverly Lewis or Wanda Brunstetter. Today, you can have your pick of over 60 authors, and well over 250 titles. In the opening pages of Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels, Valerie Weaver-Zercher describes the rapid…
Valerie Weaver-Zercher delves into that question in her new book Thrill of the Chaste: The Allure of Amish Romance Novels. Romance is a genre traditionally popular with women, as is Christian inspirational fiction. So it’s no surprise to learn that most readers of Amish fiction books are female. But what about the men? In Thrill of the Chaste, Valerie shares evidence of male interest in Amish…
We’ve had comments on other posts about “Amish Mafia” and request for a thread on the upcoming show, so here it is. The Discovery Channel program doesn’t premiere until Dec. 12. I don’t really have much comment as far as the substance behind it. I will say that I am not surprised following the success of recent Amish-themed TV shows. When it comes to public…
Mary Ann Kinsinger grew up Amish in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Mary Ann has teamed with Suzanne Woods Fisher on a series of children’s books, the first of which is called Life with Lily. The four-book series is based in part on her Amish childhood. I’m not the target market for this series, but it looks like a wholesome and fun read if you have children….
A month back I wrote about the upcoming TLC series “Breaking Amish”. After viewing a promo and reading some coverage, I felt it sounded like an “Amish in the City” rehash, but with the obnoxious dial cranked to 11: Just when I think “Amish TV” might be cooling down, a new show pops up. I imagine at some point we’ll be seeing a full-fledged network…
John Stoltzfus is a friend of mine and member of the Lebanon County, PA Amish community (you may recall reading his comments on this blog from time to time). Like any Old Order Amishman, John’s home is not wired, but he does have access to a computer via his job and neighbors, which isn’t commonplace but not too rare either. John also has an interesting…
We’ve got two winners of Marlene Miller’s Grace Leads Me Home today. First, a note from Cathy: Hi, I’m Cathy, Marlene’s friend who helped her write her book,Grace Leads Me Home. I just got off the phone with Marlene and she is just thrilled with all the comments from everyone on this site. It’s wonderful to her that out of her conviction that God…
Marlene Miller is a convert to the Amish and author of Grace Leads Me Home, a memoir of becoming Amish and her life in the 45 years since. I read Marlene’s book a couple of months ago and quite enjoyed it. Here is how I described my overall impression: I liked the book. We’ve seen a few accounts of individuals leaving the Amish lately (see Ira…
I thought it might be nice to share something from The Connection magazine with you today. “The Life of a Farmer’s Wife” appears in each issue courtesy of Lena Yoder of Topeka, Indiana. Lena is an Amish mom just doing her best with husband Wayne to run a family and a farm. As she writes in a previous column, “Some days I wonder just why…
The documentary film “The Amish” airs on American Experience on PBS tonight (8pm EST). I was able to preview the film at the Young Center while in PA last week. One big challenge for the filmmakers was creating a documentary featuring the Amish when no Amish appear face-to-face with the camera. However numerous Amish did agree to be interviewed for the documentary, and their voices…