Strong and resilient, Amish and beautiful, 17 year-old Ava Troyer is released from the hospital after the bad accident that took her father. She makes the quiet ride home in the old family buggy, sandwiched between her huge brothers, Isaac and John. She is greeted at the old homestead by her stern and cold Aunt Rachael, the only “mother” she has known. Things slowly begin to return to normal as Ava continues to wonder and daydream about the handsome stranger who rescued her then disappeared. And then Jed, Ava’s unwelcome admirer, shows up for Thanksgiving dinner.
Roger Rheinheimer spent the first eighteen years of his life in northern Indiana. His father was the only doctor for a small town of 1200, and had a hitching rail on a side street by his office for the Amish patients. His father bought an eighty acre farm, and Roger and his older brother worked it, raising cattle and growing crops.
While he was still in high school, Roger learned woodworking skills from Elmer Schlabach, his Amish mentor. They built houses in the old-fashioned tradition, from hand-mixing the concrete for the foundations to hand-nailing the shingles. The only phase they did not do was the electrical. To this day, Roger enjoys using his wood crafting skills, making acoustic guitars and furniture.
Roger earned an undergraduate degree in Behavioral Psychology from a small private college in the Shenandoah Valley, took a Creative Writing class, loved it, and published a short story called My Brother. He was a regular contributing writer to the college newspaper.
Roger has two novels in print and ebook, Amish Snow and Yield Spread: a novel.
Crystal Linn is a free-lance writer and award-winning poet who teaches a variety of creative writing classes. Her third book, Poetry for Friends, is scheduled to be released in the spring of 2012. She lives in the greater Seattle area where she enjoys reading mysteries, writing poetry and sailing with friends and family.
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