Naomi's Gift: An Amish Christmas Story
Page 14
11. What did you learn about Amish holiday traditions? What is your opinion of their customs? Should we, as non-Amish, adopt more of their traditions of making Christmas more religious and less commercial? Share your thoughts with the group.
A Plain and Simple Christmas
A Novella
Amy Clipston
Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you’ll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman’s story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams … and secrets. You’ll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the “English” way of life—and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families.
In the tradition of her widely popular Kauffman Amish Bakery Series, author Amy Clipston tells the tale of Anna Mae McDonough who was shunned by her family four years ago when she left her Amish community in Lancaster County, PA, to marry an “Englisher” and move with him to Baltimore. Now, eight months pregnant with her first child, she longs to return home for Christmas to reconcile with her family, especially her stern father, who is the religious leader for her former Amish church district.
So Anna Mae writes a letter to Kathryn Beiler, her brother’s wife, to enlist her help. Kathryn asks her husband, David, if she should arrange Anna Mae’s visit. David cautions her that a visit would cause too much stress in the family and instead suggests they visit Anna Mae and her husband in the spring. However, Kathryn arranges the visit anyway, believing in her heart that it’s God’s will for the family to heal.
When Anna Mae arrives in Lancaster for Christmas, the welcome she receives is nothing like what she had hoped for.
A book filled with love, the pain of being separated from one’s family, and the determination to follow God’s will regardless of the outcome, A Plain and Simple Christmas is an inspiring page-turner that will keep you guessing what happens next … right to the very last page.
Kauffman Amish Bakery Series
A Gift of Grace
A Novel
Amy Clipston
Rebecca Kauffman’s tranquil Old Order Amish life is transformed when she suddenly has custody of her two teenage nieces after her English sister and brother-in-law are killed in an automobile accident. Instant motherhood, after years of unsuccessful attempts to conceive a child of her own, is both a joy and a heartache. Rebecca struggles to give the teenage girls the guidance they need as well as fulfill her duties to Daniel as an Amish wife.
Rebellious Jessica is resistant to Amish ways and constantly in trouble with the community. Younger sister Lindsay is caught in the middle, and the strain between Rebecca and Daniel mounts as Jessica’s rebellion escalates. Instead of the beautiful family life she dreamed of creating for her nieces, Rebecca feels as if her world is being torn apart by two different cultures, leaving her to question her place in the Amish community, her marriage, and her faith in God.
Available in stores and online!
Kauffman Amish Bakery Series
A Promise of Hope
A Novel
Amy Clipston
In A Promise of Hope, the second installment in the Kauffman Amish Bakery Series, bestselling author Amy Clipston compellingly unfolds the tensions, loves, and faith of the inhabitants of an Amish community and the family bakery that serves as an anchor point for the series.
When Sarah Troyer tragically loses her husband, Peter, she is left to raise infant twins alone. Overwhelmed and grieving, she lives with her parents in the Amish community of Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania. Sarah is taken completely by surprise when a stranger arrives claiming connections to Peter’s past—Peter had told her he was an orphan with no family. From Luke, she learns her husband hid a secret life, one with ramifications that will change her own.
Sarah’s family, concerned for her and the future of her twins, encourages her to marry again. It should make sense … but Sarah’s heart says no. She feels trapped. Should she marry a man she doesn’t love? Or discover if her growing interest in Luke can be trusted?
A Promise of Hope is filled with surprising twists that will grip you to the very last words.
Available in stores and online!
Kauffman Amish Bakery Series
A Place of Peace
A Novel
Amy Clipston, Bestselling Author of A Gift of Grace
Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you’ll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman’s story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams … and secrets. You’ll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the “English” way of life—and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families.
Miriam Lapp, who left the Amish community of Bird-in-Hand three years ago, is heartbroken when her sister calls to reveal that her mother has died suddenly. Traveling home to Pennsylvania, she is forced to face the heartache from her past, including her rift from her family and the breakup of her engagement with Timothy Kauffman.
Her past emotional wounds are reopened when her family rejects her once again and she finds out that Timothy is in a relationship with someone else. Miriam discovers that the rumors that broke them up three years ago were all lies. However, when Timothy proposes to his girlfriend and Miriam’s father disowns her, Miriam returns to Indiana with her heart in shambles.
When Miriam’s father has a stroke, Miriam returns to Pennsylvania, where her world continues to fall apart, leaving her to question her place in the Amish community and her faith in God.
Kauffman Amish Bakery Series
A Life of Joy
Amy Clipston, Bestselling Author of A Gift of Grace
Take a trip to Bird-in-Hand, Pennsylvania, where you’ll meet the women of the Kauffman Amish Bakery in Lancaster County. As each woman’s story unfolds, you will share in her heartaches, trials, joys, dreams … and secrets. You’ll discover how the simplicity of the Amish lifestyle can clash with the “English” way of life—and the decisions and consequences that follow. Most importantly, you will be encouraged by the hope and faith of these women, and the importance they place on their families.
In A Life of Joy, the fourth installment in the series, eighteen-year-old Lindsay Bedford has reached a crossroads. Should she stay in the small Amish community she’s known and loved for four years or return to the English life in her hometown in Virginia where her older sister is a college student? An extended visit to Virginia might just tip the scales as Lindsay reconnects with friends, joins a new church, works on her GED, and is pressured by her sister to stay and “make something of herself.”
Will Lindsay leave her aunt Rebecca and become English or settle in Bird-in-Hand and join the Amish church? Legions of Clipston fans want to know.
Full of well-researched Amish culture, Clipston’s book is true to form, delivering the best of the Amish fiction genre wrapped around a compelling story, with characters who will touch the hearts of loyal fans and new readers alike.
Coming February 2012!
Amy Clipston YA
Roadside Assistance
Amy Clipston
A very bumpy ride.
Emily Curtis is used to dealing with her problems while under the hood of an old Chevy, but when her mom dies, Emily’s world seems shaken beyond repair. Driven from home by hospital bills they can’t pay, Emily and her dad move in with his wealthy sister, who intends to make her niece more feminine—in other words, just like Whitney, Emily’s perfect cousin. But when Emily hears the engine of a 1970 Dodge Challenger, and sees the cute gearhead, Zander, next door, things seem to be looking up.
But even working alongside Zander can’t completely fix the hole in Emily’s life. Ever since her mom died, Emily hasn’t been able to pray, and no one�
��not even Zander—seems to understand. But sometimes the help you need can come from the person you least expect.
Available in stores and online!
About the Author
Amy Clipston is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery novels. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and currently works for the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. Amy lives with her husband, two sons, and four spoiled-rotten cats. Visit her on the web at www.amyclipston.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Also by Amy Clipston
A Plain and Simple Christmas
A Gift of Grace
A Promise of Hope
A Place of Peace
Young Adult
Roadside Assistance
ZONDERVAN
Naomi’s Gift
Copyright © 2011 by Amy Clipston
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of Zondervan.
EPub Edition © AUGUST 2011 ISBN: 978-0-310-59036-1
This title is also available as a Zondervan ebook.
Visit www.zondervan.com/ebooks.
This title is also available in a Zondervan audio edition. Visit www.zondervan.fm.
Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clipston, Amy.
Naomi’s gift : an Amish Christmas story / Amy Clipston.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-310-32735-6 (hardcover, jacketed)
1. Amish — Fiction. 2. Single women — Fiction. 3. Widowers — Fiction.
4. Christmas stories. I. Title.
PS3603.L58N36 2011
813’.6 — dc22 2011020589
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other — except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design: ThinkPen Design, Inc.
Cover photography: Shutterstock®
Interior photography: Shutterstock®
Interior design: Beth Shagene, Melissa Elenbaas
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