Wanda E. Brunstetter, Plain & Fancy

Plain & Fancy

Wanda E. Brunstetter

Barbour, Feb 2007, $9.97

ISBN: 1597893005

Minneapolis resident Laura Meade uses the phone and her laptop to keep in touch with her family and friends as she attends the Lancaster School of Design in Pennsylvania. She plans to visit the Farmer's Market in Bird-in-Hand.

Eli Yoder works in Strasburg at a store that makes handcrafted Amish furniture. Tomorrow he has rented a booth at the farmer's market where he plans to sell some of the items he crafted at his home woodshop.

At the farmer's market, Eli of the People and Laura of the English meet and are immediately attracted to one another. The rare, church-going outsider and the member of the Amish church know they must not pursue their feelings, but neither can prevent love from springing up between them nor stop the vitreous jealousy of the acceptable Pauline Hostetler who wants Eli to court her. Either he leaves his church and face a shunning that means no longer seeing his beloved family or she must find God and give up her fancy life to become one of the Plain as his spouse.

This is a somewhat expanded reprint of the third Lancaster Brides' tale though this reviewer does not know how much it differs from the original. PLAIN & FANCY is a fascinating, modern-day courtship tale starring two people in love with totally opposite lifestyles and belief systems. The storyline focuses on each struggling to find a way to a permanent relationship though the adjustment by Laura is depicted as complex it still seems a bit too easy. Still, readers will appreciate the comparisons between a Plain Person and a Fancy person while looking forward to the expansion of the fourth story, THE HOPE CHEST.

Harriet Klausner