At Home in Pleasant Valley

BOOK: At Home in Pleasant Valley
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ACCLAIM FOR THE NOVELS OF MARTA PERRY

“Sure to appeal to fans of Beverly Lewis.”

—
Library Journal

“A large part of the pleasure of this book is in watching Rachel be Amish, as she sells snapdragons and pansies to both Amish and ‘English' at an outdoor market, taking in snatches of Pennsylvania Dutch.”

—
The Philadelphia Inquirer

“A tender novel of second chances, endearing characters, and a can't-put-it-down story.”

—Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of
The Imposter

“A born storyteller.”

—Susan Meissner, author of
Secrets of a Charmed Life

“Perry carefully balances the traditional life of the Amish with the contemporary world in an accessible, intriguing fashion.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

Don't Miss Marta Perry's Keepers of the Promise Series

The Forgiven

The Rescued

The Rebel

Other Books by Marta Perry

Pleasant Valley

LEAH'S CHOICE

RACHEL'S GARDEN

ANNA'S RETURN

SARAH'S GIFT

KATIE'S WAY

HANNAH'S JOY

NAOMI'S CHRISTMAS

The Lost Sisters of Pleasant Valley

LYDIA'S HOPE

SUSANNA'S DREAM

Keepers of the Promise

THE FORGIVEN

THE RESCUED

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

AT HOME IN PLEASANT VALLEY

Leah's Choice
copyright © 2009 by Martha Johnson.

Rachel's Garden
copyright © 2010 by Martha Johnson.

Anna's Return
copyright © 2010 by Martha Johnson.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

BERKLEY® and the “B” design are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

For more information, visit
penguin.com
.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-98898-5

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley trade paperback edition / October 2015

Cover illustration by Shane Rebenschied.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

Version_1

A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS

I'd like to express my gratitude to those whose expertise, patience, and generosity helped me in the writing of this book: to Erik Wesner, whose
Amish America
newsletters are enormously helpful in visualizing aspects of daily life; to Donald Kraybill and John Hostetler, whose books are the definitive works on Amish life; to Louise Stoltzfus, Lovina Eicher, and numerous others who've shared what it means to be Amish; to the unnamed Plain People whose insights have enriched my life; and most of all to my family, for giving me a rich heritage upon which to draw.

C
ONTENTS

Acclaim for the Novels of Marta Perry

Other Books by Marta Perry

Title Page

Copyright

Acknowledgments

Glossary

Leah's Choice

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Rachel's Garden

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Anna's Return

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Epilogue

Recipes

 

Letter to the Reader

About the Author

G
LOSSARY
OF
P
ENNSYLVANIA
D
UTCH
W
ORDS
AND
P
HR
ASES

ach.
oh; used as an exclamation

agasinish.
stubborn; self-willed

ain't so.
A phrase commonly used at the end of a sentence to invite agreement.

alter.
old man

anymore.
Used as a substitute for “nowadays.”

Ausbund.
Amish hymnal. Used in the worship services, it contains traditional hymns, words only, to be sung without accompaniment. Many of the hymns date from the sixteenth century.

befuddled.
mixed up

blabbermaul.
talkative one

blaid.
bashful

boppli.
baby

bruder.
brother

bu.
boy

buwe.
boys

daadi.
daddy

Da Herr sei mit du.
The Lord be with you.

denke.
thanks (or
danki
)

Englischer.
one who is not Plain

ferhoodled.
upset; distracted

ferleicht.
perhaps

frau.
wife

fress.
eat

gross.
big

grossdaadi.
grandfather

grossdaadi haus.
An addition to the farmhouse, built for the grandparents to live in once they've “retired” from actively running the farm.

grossmutter.
grandmother

gut.
good

hatt.
hard; difficult

haus.
house

hinnersich.
backward

ich.
I

ja.
yes

kapp.
Prayer covering, worn in obedience to the Biblical injunction that women should pray with their heads covered. Kapps are made of Swiss organdy and are white. (In some Amish communities, unmarried girls thirteen and older wear black kapps during worship service.)

kinder.
kids (or
kinner
)

komm.
come

komm schnell.
come quick

Leit.
the people; the Amish

lippy.
sassy

maidal.
old maid; spinster

mamm.
mother

middaagesse.
lunch

mind.
remember

onkel.
uncle

Ordnung.
The agreed-upon rules by which the Amish community lives. When new practices become an issue, they are discussed at length among the leadership. The decision for or against innovation is generally made on the basis of maintaining the home and family as separate from the world. For instance, a telephone might be necessary in a shop in order to conduct business but would be banned from the home because it would intrude on family time.

Pennsylvania Dutch.
The language is actually German in origin and is primarily a spoken language. Most Amish write in English, which results in many variations in spelling when the dialect is put into writing! The language probably originated in the south of Germany but is common also among the Swiss Mennonite and French Huguenot immigrants to Pennsylvania. The language was brought to America prior to the Revolution and is still in use today. High German is used for Scripture and church documents, while English is the language of commerce.

rumspringa.
Running-around time. The late teen years when Amish youth taste some aspects of the outside world before deciding to be baptized into the church.

schnickelfritz.
mischievous child

ser gut.
very good (or
sehr gut
)

tastes like more.
delicious

Was ist letz?
What's the matter?

Wie bist du heit.
How are you; said in greeting

wilkom.
welcome

Wo bist du?
Where are you?

BOOK: At Home in Pleasant Valley
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