Author:
Narrator: Eby, Tanya
Format: Unabridged-MP3
Publisher: Brilliance Corporation
Published: Nov 2009
Genre: Fiction - Contemporary Women
Retail Price: $24.99
Discs: 1
Amish schoolteacher Leah Beiler is content nurturing her young "scholars" and helping out on her large family's Pennsylvania farm in Pleasant Valley. She has long since recovered from the defection of her former fiance Johnny Kile, who left the Amish community several years ago. But now Johnny has returned.
Working at a local medical clinic on research into inherited diseases common among the Amish, he asks for Leah's help in circumventing his "shunned" status and reuniting him with his family, in particular with his twin, Rachel, who is also Leah's best friend. Johnny also encourages Leah to help out at the clinic, working as a liaison with the Amish community. Is Johnny secretly hoping to convince Leah to leave the community and join him in an "English" life together? Meanwhile, Leah's new neighbor Daniel Glick, recently widowed, and his three children are struggling to adjust to their new home and circumstances. Daniel suffered great heartbreak when his wife abandoned him for an English life, taking their children with her for several years before dying in a tragic accident. Highly protective of his family, Daniel is suspicious of Leah's "worldly" tendencies and reluctant to become emotionally attached to her, despite her obvious sensitivity toward his children and his own growing attraction to her. Leah herself, keenly aware of the choices before her, is also heartsick over her younger sister Anna's increasingly rebellious behavior, which goes far beyond the typical "rumspringer" or running-around time traditionally allowed Amish teenagers. Is Anna being lured away from an Amish life, and if so, what can Leah do about it? How can she choose her own future when her sister's seems so precarious?