ASK THE AUTHOR

Wanda E. Brunstetter

Next release: The Journey (April), the first book in the "Kentucky Brothers Series."

Publisher: Barbour Publishing

Why do you think this genre has so much appeal? 

In talking to my readers, it's very clear to me that people are seeking something that will take them to a simpler life. It will make them slow down and refocus their priorities and just get back to basics. I think we all want to go back to our roots to the way our ancestors were. Since the Amish are still living in that mode, reading about them—and of course, a lot of people will take it one step further and travel to Amish country after they have read an Amish book—they'll just get a taste of what it means to slow down and live life a little more simply.

Your books seem to be making their way around Amish communities across the country. What's different about Kentucky? The part of Kentucky where this book is done is very rural. There is not a lot of tourism there. The Amish pretty much have that area to themselves. The Mennonites are also in that community. Very clean, very simple way of living, not a lot of commercialism going on, and I think that and the fact that the land there is so much cheaper has been the attraction. A lot of Amish have moved out of Lancaster County into Christian County, Ky. 

What drives the plot in The Journey? It is actually a spinoff from one of my earliest series, "The Daughters of Lancaster County," where a boy is kidnapped. In that series the father remarries because he is a widower, and he and his wife in their mid-life have twins, two boys. So the spin-off involves these two twin boys as well as one of their other sons. These boys decide to uproot from Lancaster County and go into Kentucky and start life anew, so it's a bit of a trauma for the family, especially the mother to see her youngest children move away like that. They are trying to find themselves and begin again.

Do you think Amish fiction will continue to grow and add readers?

I really think it will because people are just craving that simpler life. They are looking for that. People will tell me, "Don't ever stop writing about the Amish," and I think it's because they just want that feeling so bad. … Many people said, "I wish I could become Amish, but I know I can't give up my lifestyle, so this is an attempt to glean from their life and carry it into our own world."

How's your Pennsylvania Dutch?

I know several words. I don't speak the language fluently, but I know enough words that when we are with our Amish friends, I can pick out some of the things they say. I will often comment, and they will look at me surprised and say, "Oh, you knew what we said?"

See Author Corner at www.christianretailing.com for more on this author.

ECPA Fiction Top 10

1. Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan)

2. The Twelfth Imam, Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale House Publishers)

3. Her Daughter's Dream, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers) News Bit: Rivers' maternal grandparents have similarities to fictional characters Marta and Niclas, but it was only after the release of Her Daughter's Dream that she learned that her grandfather, a German immigrant working for the Baldwin Locomotive Works, advertised for a wife when he arrived in Montreal in 1913. Her grandmother replied, and they were married Easter Sunday, 1914.

4. Her Mother's Hope, Francine Rivers (Tyndale House Publishers)

5. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books)

6. The Shack, William P. Young (Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group)

7. The Thorn, Beverly Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

8. Immanuel's Veins, Ted Dekker (Thomas Nelson)

9. Fatal Judgment, Irene Hannon (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

10. Girl in the Gatehouse, Julie Klassen (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group) News Bit: Klassen has something in common with her book's heroine, who is a secret authoress. For years, while Klassen worked as an editor for Bethany House Publishers, her dream of writing was a closely-held secret.

The ECPA list is compiled from sales of Christian books in hundreds of Christian retail outlets nationwide, collected using Pubtrack Christian ( www.ptchristian.com). December best-sellers are for the four-week cycle ending January 15, 2011. All rights reserved. © 2010 ECPA. www.ecpa.org.

New fiction releases coming in May:

A Killer Among Us, Lynette Eason (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Day of War, Cliff Graham (Zondervan)

Fade to Blue, Julie Carobini (B&H Books)

Hidden Affections, Delia Parr (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Indelible, Kristen Heitzmann (WaterBrook Press)

My Foolish Heart, Susan May Warren (Tyndale House Publishers)

Nick of Time, Tim Downs (Thomas Nelson)

Secrets of the Heart, Jillian Kent (Realms/Charisma House Book Group)

Snitch, Booker T. Mattison (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

To Win Her Heart, Karen Witemeyer (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

When Sparrows Fall, Meg Moseley (Multnomah Books)

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