Amish Women: Lives and Stories »

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Written by a woman who grew up in an Old Order Amish community and church, Amish Women: Lives and Stories offers a gentle, lyrical inside view of Amish womanhood.

How are Amish women unique? How are they typical? How do they find expression in a place that values community togetherness above all else? This generous and heartwarming memoir explores these questions to discover what it means to be a woman and to be Amish.

Meet Naomi whose favorite author is C.S. Lewis. Rebecca who is single and has a career. Susie who is an artist. And Esther who has lost two children and spends much of her time reaching out to other members of her community who have suffered loss.

Louise Stoltzfus gathered her stories through a series of interviews and conversations with Amish women, many of whom she has known most of her life.

Stoltzfus is an editor for Good Books and has co-authored four cookbooks--The Central Market Cookbook, The Best of Mennonite Fellowship Meals, Favorite Recipes from Quilters, and Lancaster County Cookbook. She is also director of The People's Place Gallery, Intercourse, Pennsylvania, and lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ten miles from her ancestral home.

Publishers Weekly

In conversations with 10 Amish women, Stoltzfus explores her own Amish heritage. (Apr.)

Table of Contents
Chapter 1 -- I Was Once Amish
Chapter 2 -- They Were My Grandmothers
Chapter 3 -- She Is My Mother
Chapter 4 -- She Likes Being Amish
Chapter 5 -- Of Doughnuts and Children
Chapter 6 -- Of Swiss Chalets and Amish Roots
Chapter 7 -- Heaven Is of Great Interest
Chapter 8 -- I Love My Community
Chapter 9 -- I Am a Shepherdess
Chapter 10 -- Of Mountain Homes and Amish Ways
Chapter 11 -- I Am Glad to Have Been Amish
About the Author
"The author finds a surprising degree of freedom within these women's highly structured lives." --Publishers Weekly
"Anyone wishing to know more--and to know more deeply--about Amish women's lives will find this book a joy. Readers will be encouraged, perhaps inspired, by the variety of experiences and feeling portrayed in this sensitive collection." --Bookends