An Amish Homecoming: Four Amish Stories

Four Amish fiction writers celebrate the delights and difficulties of returning to one’s roots in this romantic inspirational anthology. Clipston (Room on the Porch Swing) and Wiseman (Home All Along) contribute stories featuring young mothers returning to their estranged parents. In Clipston’s “No Place Like Home,” Eva, whose husband just died in a fire, leaves her in-laws to stay with her parents for the first time since she had her son. In Wiseman’s “When Love Returns,” Sarah, a single mother who ran away when she was 17, is forced to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Harvey and return to her Amish home. The collection’s most powerful tale, “The Courage to Love” by Gray (Her Fear), follows Irene, a young Amish woman recovering from being abused by her parents, and explores the intricacies of trust and what, exactly, defines a home. The collection’s final story, “What Love Built” by Fuller (Surprised by Love), features the sweet courtship of Carolyn and Atlee, a baker and a carpenter who, in their 40s, find new excitement in trying to start a bakery. This is a joyful, highly entertaining cycle of stories from four Amish fiction heavyweights. (Oct.)