Central Kansas Library System

The discovery of a dead infant shakes Lancaster County to its core. Circumstantial evidence suggest that 18-year-old Katie, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the mother, took the newborn's life. Attorney Ellie Hathaway faces a system of justice very different from her own.

"In Beth Wiseman's A Choice to Forgive, Daniel had disappeared one long-ago Christmas Eve, and Lydia built a life with his brother. Now she's a widow, and Daniel is back. In A Miracle for Miriam by Kathleen Fuller, Seth had once broken "plain" Miriam's heart. Can he now convince her that she is truly beautiful to him? And in Barbara Cameron's One Child, on a snowy winter night in Lancaster County, a child changes the world for two very different couples....

Shunned by her Amish community, widow Alta Hershberger seeks a fresh start with her sister in New Berne, Pennsylvania. There she meets handsome preacher Jonas Miller, who shows her kindness, something she doesn't believe she deserves. Because Alta has a secret -- one she thinks makes her unworthy of love. But as their mutual attraction deepens, will she find the courage to accept that she might be wrong?

"Samuel Lapp isn't ready to think about joining the Amish church yet. However, he's feeling the pressure from his family, community, and church. The harder they push, the more he rebels. Not even his pretty neighbor, Mary Ruth Smucker, can get Samuel to settle down into the Amish ways. Just when everyone has given up hope on Samuel, he finds himself learning more about the non-Amish way of life than he ever wanted to know. When he finds faith, will...

"Believing ... her marriage is coming to an end, Mattie Greene returns to Paradise, Pennsylvania near Christmastime. Carson and Elisabeth are not ready to see their friends' marriage dissolve and they fight to keep them together. Will Mattie and Richard reunite in time for a perfect Christmas? Or will they spend the holidays - and the rest of their lives - alone?"--Back cover.

"Mattie Riehl ... never expected her life to turn out this way. Raised Mennonite and amongst Amish friends in beautiful Lancaster County, she should be perfectly content, shouldn't she? But something inside beckons her to another world, another life. Can she leave her roots and her friends behind for a world she knows little about? Will she abandon everything, including the God her parents have taught her to follow?"--Back cover.

As summer arrives, Mary and her sisters, Elizabeth and Martha, investigate the mystery of a valuable stamp that vanishes. Meanwhile, they also prepare for a family reunion, and try to create a milkweed preserve for the monarch butterflies.

"When Ellie Stoltzfus arrives to provide housecleaning and childcare services for her friend's brother, Reuben Miller, the Amish widower's reluctant to agree. But, smitten with Reuben's young son, Ellie's determined to see the job through. There's no denying Ellie is good for both father and son, but still-grieving Reuben won't marry for love again. Can he convince Ellie to be his wife...in name only?"--

When Katie Lapp finds the satin infant gown in the dusty leather trunk of her parents' attic, she knows it holds a secret she must discover. Why else would her Amish mother, a plain and simple woman who embraces the Old Order laws, hide the beautiful baby dress in the attic? But nothing could have prepared Katie for the startling news that stumbles out of her anguished parents on the eve of her wedding to Bishop John. Will Katie suddenly find herself...