J. Kay

For generations, Ellie Hostetler's family has tended their Lancaster County orchard, a tradition her twin brother, Evan, will someday continue. Yet when Evan's draft number is called up in the lottery for the Vietnam War, the family is shocked to learn he has not sought conscientious objector status, despite their Old Order Amish belief in nonresistance. The faraway war that has caused so much turmoil and grief among their Englisher neighbors threatens to touch much too close to home. Can she and her family find the courage to face a future unlike any they could have imagined?

Twin sisters, Elma and Thelma Hochstetler do everything together. They live together, they run a general store in Indiana, and they are growing old together - neither one marrying young like their peers. But that could change if one of them marries.

He helped save people every day - but he had no idea how to save himself. Jason Sautel had it all. Confident in his abilities and trusted by his fellow firefighters, he was making a name for himself on the streets of Oakland, California. His adrenaline-fueled job even helped him forget the pain of his childhood - until the day he looked into the eyes of a jumper on the Bay Bridge and came face-to-face with a darkness he knew would take him down as well.

A compelling story of friendship from the top author in Amish fiction, Leona Speicher got the "sister" she'd always dreamed of the day Gloria Gingerich and her family moved to Lancaster County Amish farmland. The Arkansas newcomers seem to be everything a devout Plain family should be, and Leona can't help comparing Gloria's engaging young parents to her own. Leona's cousin shows a romantic interest in Gloria around the same time as Gloria's older brother expresses his fondness for Leona.

Detective Olivia Mast would rather run through gunfire than return to her former Amish community in Unity, Maine, where she killed her abusive husband in self-defense and witnessed her family's murder. After an Amish man is murdered, the community will not answer questions from the police, so she begrudgingly dons her old prayer kapp and heads to Unity to investigate the murder undercover. To make things even worse, her captain also orders her to protect the man she dated as a teen: Isaac Troyer, who was attacked on the night of the murder but can't remember the incident.

Susie Mast's Old Order life in Lancaster County's Hickory Hollow has been shaped by events beyond her control, with the tragic deaths of her Dat and close-in-age brother casting a particularly long shadow. Now 22, Susie remains unmarried despite her longtime affection for friend Obie Yoder. Believing Obie might never show romantic interest in her, Susie accepts Del Petersheim's invitations - it is only after Obie leaves to take an apprenticeship that Susie realizes her mistake.

While taking her morning run, Amish schoolteacher Jodi Winfield makes a startling find on the side of the road - a preschool-aged girl, crying and clad only in her undergarments. Jodi takes the girl with her, but no one knows who she is. Then fate brings Jodi to Hickory Hollow’s Lancaster Old Order Amish, and she finds clues to the girl’s identity.

Melissa James has a picture-perfect existence - or so it seems. In reality, she has been looking over her shoulder her entire life. Just as her secrets are about to catch up with her, she seeks a haven in Pennsylvania Amish Country. Will her stay bring her peace, or will it bring danger to the Plain community?

Rose Kauffman pines for prodigal Nick Franco, the Bishop's foster son who left the Amish under a cloud of suspicion after his foster brother's death. His rebellion led to the "silencing" of their beloved Bishop. But is Nick really the rebel he appears to be? Rose's lingering feelings for her wayward friend refuse to fade, but she is frustrated that Nick won't return and make things right with the People. Nick avowed his love for Rose - but will he ever be willing to sacrifice modern life for her?

A Christy Award winner, New York Times best-selling author Beverly Lewis has garnered acclaim as the queen of Amish fiction. The Thorn begins her Rose Trilogy, the stirring saga of two Amish sisters on the fringes of the church—and the unforeseen discoveries that change their lives.... Rose Kauffman finds herself growing closer to the bishop’s foster son despite the warnings of her older sister, who knows more than she should about falling for the wrong man.