My son, who has always been a geography buff, has gotten me hooked on a History Channel show called “How the States Got Their Shapes.” (We’re watching on Netflix if you want to check it out.) One of the humorous features is when the host asks people who live in a state what they know […]
Whenever a new release from Leslie Gould comes my way, my heart races just a bit. She won me over in her first collaborations with Mindy Starns Clark. When she branched out on her own with her Courtships of Lancaster County series, I could not devour them quickly enough! So to see yet another new […]
What do you think of when I say the words Amish schoolhouse? Did you picture a small white frame building in a secluded rural spot, with children in Amish clothing playing ball or tag outside? That’s the most common image we have, especially of the Pennsylvania Amish. But Amish schooling wasn’t always so peaceful. In […]
The Final Reveille released this month, and it’s my first mystery in the Living History Museum Mystery Series. The series is about a fictional living history museum and farm in Ohio. The first novel takes place during a Civil War reenactment on the Farm. Unfortunately, one of the attendees to the reenactment is found dead, […]
Hi, Patricia. I am excited to interview you today! Tell readers all about your new book, An Amish Harvest (The Amish Bachelors). Thank you for inviting me to your blog. An Amish Harvest is the story of Samuel Bowman, a young man who is injured when a gas generator explodes and suffers burns on his […]
A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, one of my favorite paintings, hangs in the Chicago Institute of Art. When I laid eyes on the original painting for the first time, I was stunned. Pictures do not do it justice. The painter, George Seurat, a Pointillism master, used thousands of tiny dots […]
Amish girls learn to sew when they are very young—even two- and three-year-olds can help Mamm by picking up scraps and keeping the sewing area tidy. In a few years they will be able to thread a needle and learn their stitches by sewing squares of fabric together—though it takes some practice to attain the […]
Just like a single candle can brighten a dark room, a glimmer of hope can sustain the soul in dark times. In her highly-anticipated second novel, Kristy Cambron shines a light on the resiliency of the human spirit in A Sparrow in Terezin (Thomas Nelson/April 7, 2015/ISBN: 978-1401690618/$15.99). Q: Your new book has a unique […]
Wanda Brunstetter has long been considered a front-runner in the Amish fiction genre. Her stories are woven with heart and faith. When I received a copy of her newest release, The Decision (first in her Prairie State Friends series), I was ready to dive into another Brunstetter winner. Unfortunately, I do not feel this novel […]
“I don’t know how to make ends meet here anymore. … I won’t be able to subsist here much longer.” That’s what one immigrant said about leaving Europe. Taxes, inflation, exorbitant rents, and the threat of war made leaving look better than staying. This was especially true in central Germany and Switzerland, where the Amish […]