The Fiddler

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Fiddler Bethany House Publishers (April 10, 2012) by Beverly Lewis



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beverly's first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, including The Shunning, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author's maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly's work to be "a primer on Lancaster County folklore" and offers "an insider's view of Amish life."



Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."



A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms."



ABOUT THE BOOK

Come home to Hickory Hollow, Pennsylvania--the beloved setting where Beverly Lewis's celebrated Amish novels began--with new characters and new stories of drama, romance, and the ties that draw people together.



A wrong turn in a rainstorm leads Englisher Amelia Devries to Michael Hostetler--and the young Amishman's charming Old Order community of Hickory Hollow. Despite their very different backgrounds, Amelia and Michael both feel hemmed in by the expectations of others and struggle with how to find room for their own hopes. And what first seems to be a chance encounter might just change their lives forever.



If you would like to read the first chapter of The Fiddler, go HERE.



Watch the book video:






The Fiddler by Beverly Lewis is the first book in the Home to Hickory Hollow series. Amelia DeVries is an acclaimed violinist who has been secretly finding joy in playing under the pseudonym Amy Lee on the country music circuit as a fiddler. When her manager and boyfriend found out about her secret life, they are both horrified that she would sacrifice her career in classical music and her father's dreams. Driving home on a rainy night, she takes a wrong turn in the woods of Pennsylvania, and when her car gets a flat tire, she takes refuge in a small cabin. Michael Hostetler is also struggling with disappointing his family. As a twenty-five-year old man, he should have been baptized into the Amish faith years ago, and his father has given him an ultimatum: join the faith or get out. But Michael has been attending college and learning how to draw blueprints. He is drawn to the "fancy" life, and only his love for his family holds him back. When Michael and Amelia meet there is a immediate recognition that they are in similar places in their lives, and as they spend a quiet evening in the cabin waiting out the storm, they forge a bond that just might change their lives forever. I love how Lewis gently exposes the quiet chemistry between the pair without making it about physical attraction. These two souls feel right together from their first moment shared on the page. Lewis, as usual, portrays both the good and bad sides of being Amish and how the attraction of the Englisch world pulls on young people who desire something more out of life and refuse to believe that leaving the faith means leaving God. Michael and Amelia's relationship blossoms slowly and truly, making readers fall in love with them as they fall in love with each other. I look forward to the next book in the series.