At Home in Pleasant Valley
Read At Home in Pleasant Valley Online
Authors: Marta Perry
ACCLAIM FOR THE NOVELS OF MARTA PERRY
“Sure to appeal to fans of Beverly Lewis.”
â
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 âEnglish' at an outdoor market, taking in snatches of Pennsylvania Dutch.”
â
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“A tender novel of second chances, endearing characters, and a can't-put-it-down story.”
âSuzanne Woods Fisher, author of
The Imposter
“A born storyteller.”
âSusan 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.”
â
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.
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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.
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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.
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?