Lorie's Heart

Lillard (Courting Emily) returns to the Amish community of Well's Landing, Okla., in this gentle romantic meander, which begins with the death of Lorie Kauffman's father. Contrary to Amish practice, Henry Kauffman has a tattoo of Lorie's deceased mother's name. He also owns a car and a driver's license with a different identity. Against the wishes of her stepmother and her husband-to-be, Jonah, Lorie investigates her father's worldly past and her own origins with the help of Zach Calhoun, a handsome Englisch boy who works in the senior center where her dementia-stricken grandmother lives. As Lorie experiences the temptations of worldly life and Zach's charm, she risks losing her Amish family while finding her father's. Lillard integrates details of Plain life, such as young people's "buddy groups" and adult baptism, without being didactic. She also accurately conveys the strangeness of Englisch society to a young woman who never cut her hair, used a cell phone, or imagined that a society could warehouse its elderly. The romantic angle is less strong, but readers will enjoy following Lorie's adventures far from home. Agent: Mary Sue Seymour, Seymour Agency. (Aug.)