Read Anna's Crossing: An Amish Beginnings Novel Online
Authors: Suzanne Woods Fisher
Tags: #Christian Books & Bibles, #Literature & Fiction, #Historical, #Romance, #Amish, #Religion & Spirituality, #Fiction, #Religious & Inspirational Fiction, #Christian Fiction, #Historical Romance, #Inspirational, #FIC053000, #FIC042030, #FIC027050, #Amish—Fiction, #United States—History—18th century—Fiction
Anna's Crossing: An Amish Beginnings Novel (29 page)
It’s a funny thing about books. You start out with an idea, a basic sketch drawn from a few facts, get a green light from your publisher, and then it’s time to open a new Word document. For a while, it’s just you and your computer.
But a book is never the work of just one person. As the story grows and expands, it includes imaginary people and places, but it also includes real people. Those who lend advice on research issues, those who help to proof and edit, those who take great care to design covers, those who market and sell the books, and of course those who eventually read the book. Each one deserves a felt thank-you from the bottom of my heart.
First of all, thank you to my dedicated first readers, Lindsey Ciraulo and Tad Fisher. Nobody could have better bird’s-eye readers. Or encouragers.
In terms of print and paper, words cannot express my gratitude for the team at Revell for your many efforts on my behalf. To Andrea Doering and Barb Barnes, my editing bookends, thank you for being such talented, wonderful people with
whom to work. To the group in marketing, publicity, and art, thank you for using your talent in support of this and so many other books. Much of what you do to get books into readers’ hands goes behind the scenes, but I notice! Thank you for your love of Christian fiction. To my agent, Joyce Hart, thank you for taking these literary journeys with me over the years.
To David Luthy, a thank-you for answering my questions as I began this story. To Ervin Stutzman, for sending me Gottlieb Mittelberger’s
Journey to Pennsylvania
.
I thank the Lord for giving me the love of writing, which I enjoy immensely. I’m deeply grateful to be able to do something every day that I love so much. God’s way of connecting people is, indeed, the most magnificent part of any story.
Last of all, but never least of all, I am grateful to so many reader friends far and near. Thank you for all the sweet emails, for recommending my stories to your friends. You can’t imagine how much it means, when the story goes out into the world, and people make room for it in their reading life. May each of you find your “Only God” story!
The following books and sites provided helpful historical information about life in the eighteenth century, seafaring or otherwise.
Amish Society
, 4th ed., by John A. Hostetler (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1963).
The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an Eighteenth-
Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts
by Sian Rees (New York: Hyperion, 2002).
Johann
by Everett J. Thomas (Goshen, IN: Woodgate Pond Publishing, 2012).
Mayflower II
(and her wonderful staff), State pier, Plymouth, MA 02361;
www.plimoth.org
.
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community
and War
by Nathaniel Philbrick (New York: Penguin Books, 2006).
Unser Leit: The Story of
the Amish
, vol. 1, by Leroy Beachy (Millersburg, Ohio: Goodly Heritage Press, 2011).
Some helpful websites about the eighteenth-century sea crossings for Amish and Mennonite immigrants:
“Beyond Germanna” by Klaus Wust;
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~marier/Germanna.htm
.
Kinexxions
blog by Becky Wiseman;
http://kinexxions.blogspot.com/2012/06/jacob-berlin-voyage-across-ocean.html
.
The Palatine Project by Progenealogists;
http://www.progenealogists.com/palproject/
.
“Soul Seller: The Man Who Moved People” by Louise Walsh;
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/soul-seller-the-man-who-moved-people
.
Suzanne Woods Fisher
is the author of the bestselling Lancaster County Secrets and Stoney Ridge Seasons series.
The Search
received a 2012 Carol Award,
The Waiting
was a finalist for the 2011 Christy Award, and
The Choice
was a finalist for the 2011 Carol Award. Suzanne’s grandfather was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Her interest in living a simple, faith-filled life began with her Dunkard cousins. Suzanne is also the author of the bestselling
Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for
a Complicated World
and
Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from
the Simple Life
, both finalists for the ECPA Book of the Year award, and
Amish Values for Your Family: What
We Can Learn from the Simple Life
. She has an app, Amish Wisdom, to deliver a proverb a day to your iPhone, iPad, or Android. Visit her at
www.suzannewoodsfisher.
com
to find out more.
Suzanne lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World
Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life
Amish Values for Your Family: What We Can Learn from the Simple Life
A Lancaster County Christmas
Christmas at Rose Hill Farm
L
ANCASTER
C
OUNTY
S
ECRETS
The Choice
The Waiting
The Search
S
TONEY
R
IDGE
S
EASONS
The Keeper
The Haven
The Lesson
T
HE
I
NN
AT
E
AGLE
H
ILL
The Letters
The Calling
The Revealing
T
HE
A
DVENTURES
OF
L
ILY
L
APP
(with Mary Ann Kinsinger)
Life with Lily
A New Home for Lily
A Big Year for Lily
A Surprise for Lily
