The Amish are all the rage these days. Novels about them, TV shows about them, cookbooks written by them. I have a couple, by the way. Amish women know how to cook.
By now, most of us know that the Ordnung is the guidelines or rules of the church, and most of us know Rumspringa is a time in a teenager’s life, before he or she joins the church, of testing the waters in the Englisher world. If you watched the beautiful Kate Stoltz change from simple Amish girl to super model on the show Breaking Amish, you know just about anything can happen during the teen’s running season.
But what happens when the worst a young lady does is get a job, wear jeans, and attend church on Sundays? What happens when her biggest sin against the Amish is reading a King James Bible?
In the Old Order Amish, the Meidung, or shunning, is just the beginning.
Dee Yoder tells us the story of seventeen-year-old Leah Raber, whose inquisitive mind leads her in a quest for a relationship with the loving God, a rebellious act that subjects her to the terrible choice of denying her family, or denying her Savior. When a young woman is caught in a world unfamiliar to her, when she longs for family and home, when she wishes to cling to her new-found faith in disobedience to the church bishop, what choices does she have?
Each Amish order is different, some stricter than others. Inside the strictest orders, some kids feel the need for escape and freedom. Some endure things not often recorded in the novels we read. As a mentor and volunteer for Mission to Amish People, Dee tells of a darker side of the religion. MAP is a ministry developed to help those who wish to escape a religion that often seems oppressive. Dee’s fiction is based on the lives of those escapees whom she now calls friends. The Miting, a coming-of-age story is her first full-length novel, and it is well worth the read.
Several years into it, and this blog still refuses to be categorized. It's eclectic and includes everything from writing posts to snippets from my ordinary life. 
Linda W. Yezak 
I read this book and reviewed it at my blog, http://www.pammeyerswrites.blogspot.com . I received the book as a comp from the publisher, but I also bought the book before that. Knowing how it really is for many Amish, I know better how to pray for them. Another great book on this side of the Amish life most are not aware of is the personal testimony of a former Amish couple they wrote with author, Trisha Goyer, called Plain Faith. I’m very grateful for the ministry Dee Yoder is involved in and how she and her husband reach out to these dear people.
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You were probably on the loop with us when Dee was telling everyone about MAP and the TV show involving Joe Keim. The stories she told! How sad! I understand that not all Amish orders are like the ones Dee is most familiar with, but still, the things that can happen in these stricter, tightly knit communities make me shudder.
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I think the strictness is pretty much across the board for most Amish districts, even in what is called New Order Amish. Things like being allowed to ride a bike or how many inches wide the brim of a man’s hat has to be are less restrictive, but not the strictness about reading an English Bible or investigating it for one’s self.
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Every single time I see this title, I think it’s called “The Mating.” Ever single time. /facepalm
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Stop that!
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I am not a big fan of Amish ficton because so much that is written only touches the surface.This, however, has me interested.
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I think you’d like it. Dee had a delicate line to walk, but I think she balanced it well.
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