80. A Road Unknown - Barbara Cameron

read on my iPhone
2014 Abingdon Press
304 pgs.
Adult Amish Fiction
Finished August 16, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.3 - 214 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Paradise, Lancaster County, PA

First line/s:  "Some people say that if you look at a map of Goshen, Indiana, you'd see almost all Amish country roads lead into the town."

My comments:  My second foray into Amish literature, a bit of a better choice than the first.  A young woman in her very early 20s flees her home and family in Goshen, Indiana, because, as the eldest of eight, all she does is care for her siblings.  She does not depart from the Amish way of life, but does travel by bus to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to share a small apartment with an Englisher. She soon finds a job in an Amish gift shop, run by a young Amish man she met on the bus. These are not the super-strict Amish, but a sect that hires drivers to transport them from place to place when needed and even carry a phone.  Part of the plot it about "dating," all very understated, and I think this is a pretty reasonable depiction of some of the Amish's way of life in Lancaster County.

Goodreads synopsis:  Elizabeth is at a crossroad. Will rumschpringe lead her away? Or bring her home?
          She's been given the chance to experience life outside of her community, away from the responsibility to care for her eight younger siblings, but Elizabeth Bontrager can't decide which road to take. Goshen has its charms and pressures, but Paradise, Pennsylvania, sounds . . . well, like paradise. And it's also home to her Englisch friend, Paula. Decision made. Elizabeth is Paradise bound.
          But will the small town live up to its name? When Elizabeth meets Paula's friend, Bruce, she quickly learns he wants more than a friendship. And the same might be true of Saul Miller, her new boss at the country story that sells Amish products to the Englisch community. As the two compete for her attention, Elizabeth is surprised to realize she misses her family and becomes even more uncertain about where she belongs. She has a choice to make: return home or embrace this new life and possibly a new love?