They're No Bodice Rippers, But Amish Romances Are Hot
'Bonnet Novels' Sell Like Shoofly Pie; Mrs. Smoker Lives the Life and Is Skeptical
WSJ, SEPTEMBER 9, 2009, By ALEXANDRA ALTER
NEWBURG, Pa. -- Rachel Esh, owner of an Amish dry-goods store here, was giddy as customers kept arriving. Cars spilled out of the dirt parking lot onto the hay and potato fields, crushing a few of her neighbor's potatoes.
She ushered the crowd of 40 people swarming in front of her cash register into a line that snaked out the door of Rachel's Country Store. The cause of the commotion: novelist Cindy Woodsmall, who had stopped by to autograph books.
Ms. Woodsmall writes "bonnet books," or Amish love stories, which are a booming new subcategory of the romance genre. The books, written by non-Amish writers, are aimed at a mainstream audience. But Ms. Woodsmall researches her stories among the Pennsylvania Amish, and she has a loyal Amish following.
The plot of her 2006 novel, "When the Heart Cries," revolves around Hannah, a young Amish woman who falls in love with a Mennonite and hides her plans to marry him from her strict parents. The lovers struggle to overcome the cultural divide, and actually kiss a couple of times in 326 pages: "His warm, gentle lips moved over hers, and she returned the favor, until Hannah thought they might both take flight right then and there. Finally desperate for air, they parted."
"I can't stop reading them," said Mary Ann Blank, an Amish woman with a wide smile and graying hair she wears neatly parted under her prayer cap. She clutched her signed copy of the third book in Ms. Woodsmall's "Sisters of the Quilt" series, published by WaterBrook Press, a Random House imprint. "I usually better not start in the morning because then I sit around too long," she added.
Most bonnet books are G-rated romances, often involving an Amish character who falls for an outsider. Publishers attribute the books' popularity to their pastoral settings and forbidden love scenarios à la Romeo and Juliet. Lately, the genre has expanded to include Amish thrillers and murder mysteries. Most of the authors are women.
Beverly Lewis, who sets her novels among the Amish in Pennsylvania, has sold 13.5 million copies of her books. Wanda Brunstetter's novels take place in Amish communities in Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Pennsylvania, and have sold more than four million copies. Publishing house Thomas Nelson plans to release five Amish novels this fall, and six more in 2010.
Barnes & Noble book buyer Jane Love said Amish novels currently account for 15 of the chain's top 100 religious fiction titles. "It's almost like you put a person with a bonnet or an Amish field in the background and it automatically starts to sell well," Ms. Love said.
The explosion of Amish fiction has drawn mixed reactions within Amish communities. Emma Smoker, 39, who was selling homemade pies -- apple, blueberry and shoofly -- in front of Rachel's, said the books don't interest her.
"I live the Amish life -- I don't need to read about it," said Mrs. Smoker, who is the sister of store owner Rachel Esh. From what her friends tell her, she added, the books "aren't quite true to life."
Ms. Esh said some Amish customers snap up the Amish fiction she stocks, but others tell her they don't like the way the books portray the community.
"There will always be people who say we're getting too exposed," said Ms. Esh, a 48-year-old member of the local Old Order Amish community.
Old Order Amish shun modern technologies such as electricity and TV, forbid members to own cars and computers, and speak Pennsylvania Dutch, a German dialect. They sew their own clothes and try to lead simple lives based on faith and community. The U.S. Amish population has more than doubled in the past 18 years, growing to about 233,000, largely because of high birth rates. About 85% of Amish teenagers, given the choice, end up joining these communities.
While there are no religious strictures against contemporary novels, the church has traditionally viewed fiction as distracting and deceitful, says Donald Kraybill, a senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies, a religious studies center at Elizabethtown College.
Some Amish have nevertheless become avid fans. An Amish woman in Lancaster told Ms. Lewis that "all the women in our church district are reading your books under the covers, literally," Ms. Lewis said. Ms. Brunstetter, who lives in Tacoma, Wash., said several Amish families in northern Indiana have played host to book signings in their homes for her "Sisters of Holmes County" series.
Beth Graybill, director of the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, said many Amish novels present a distorted, soap-opera version of Amish life. Outside authors exaggerate the wild activities during Rumspringa, the period when Amish teenagers experiment with technology and worldly distractions, from about the age of 16 until they decide to join the church or leave the community, Ms. Graybill said. Buggy accidents, and romances between Amish youngsters and outsiders, are also far less common than the books suggest, she said.
Ms. Woodsmall -- whose four books have sold about 134,000 copies, according to Nielsen BookScan -- sets her stories in contemporary Amish communities around Pennsylvania. A stay-at-home mother turned novelist, Ms. Woodsmall, 50, says the plot for her first series popped into her head about 10 years ago while she was cooking dinner. She began researching Amish beliefs and formed a relationship with a Pennsylvania Amish family after a mutual acquaintance introduced them. The couple, Miriam and Daniel Flaud, have six children and three grandchildren and live on a 150-acre plot of farmland with corn, hay, alfalfa and soybeans. Ms. Woodsmall, who lives outside Atlanta, visits them once or twice a year and mails her manuscripts to Mrs. Flaud, who, as a favor, checks them for mistakes.
Mrs. Flaud often catches simple errors, such as characters riding bicycles -- most Pennsylvania Amish ride scooters -- or a mangled bit of Pennsylvania Dutch. Other times, Mrs. Flaud has suggested adding or rewriting scenes. When an Amish character in Ms. Woodsmall's fourth novel, "Hope of Refuge," was shunned for allowing a non-Amish woman to stay in his home, Mrs. Flaud suggested the author include the bishop's perspective to show that shunning is not taken lightly. Ms. Woodsmall wrote a scene that included the church leader's point of view.
Mrs. Flaud said she enjoys helping with the books and finds the plots gripping. "You get hooked," she said. Still, she is wary of upsetting her community and is selective about what she tells Ms. Woodsmall. For example, she doesn't provide details about religious rituals such as wedding ceremonies, which are considered sacred.
During a recent visit, Ms. Woodsmall sat on a swing outside the Flauds' 133-year-old farmhouse and peppered them with questions for her sequel to "The Hope of Refuge."
"This is one of those questions I hate to ask," said Ms. Woodsmall. One of her characters, a schoolteacher, wants to modernize some aspects of Amish education. "What are some things she might want to change?" Ms. Woodsmall asked.
The Flauds' 13-year-old daughter, Amanda, piped up. "The bathrooms," she said, explaining that many students at her school wanted to replace outhouses with indoor plumbing.
Some of her inquiries drew a blank. The Flauds couldn't come up with Amish expressions for the word "quirky" or the phrase "women's rights."
Soon, it was time for the book signing at Rachel's Country Store. Ms. Woodsmall greeted fans, most of them "Englishers," or non-Amish, and signed about 250 books. Miriam and Daniel Flaud stood nearby, watching as Englishers snapped Ms. Woodsmall's photo with cellphone cameras.
Write to Alexandra Alter at alexandra.alter@wsj.com
