An Amish Year: Four Amish Novellas by Beth Wiseman

Beth Wiseman’s book contains four novellas, each one better than the last.  The four novellas: Rooted in Love, A Love for Irma Rose, Patchwork Perfect, and When Christmas Comes Again all tell stories that touch the reader’s heart and include characters that the reader empathizes with from beginning to end. 

            In the first story, Rooted in Love, Rosemary Lantz is a sixteen-year-old young woman, who has lost her mother and is trying to take her place for the family.  In doing so, she is willing to sacrifice her own desire for love.  But, fate has other plans.

A Love for Irma Rose, the second novella, is set in 1957. Irma Rose is ready to date for the first time, and has more than one choice.  She must choose between a reckless boy who makes her heart beat faster or a “good” Amish boy, who she thinks she is expected to pick.

           Eli Byler is a widower in the third novella, Patchwork Perfect.  He has two children and is ready to marry again.  He has a few choices when he arrives in a new town.  But, he also has the responsibilities of two young children.  Eli finds out that where one finds love is not always where one believed it would be.

When Christmas Comes Again is the final novella.  New widow, Katherine, and her four children are facing the first holidays since the death of her husband.  She is struggling to run the home, deal with her grief, as well as her children’s, and, now, a new worry is on her shoulders, as she catches a strange man following her about.  Never expecting the news she receives from this man, her life will change once again. 

           Beth Wiseman does a wonderful job bringing her characters to life, building stories that entrance the readers and leave them wanting more.  The stories are the perfect length.  After turning the last page of each novella, I went to bed thinking of the characters and how their lives turn out after the “happy ending.”