Amish Cinderella Book 2: Amish Fairy Tales (A Lancaster County Christmas) series, #2

By Rachel Stoltzfus

Will sixteen-year-old Ella have the strength to fight for her future with Samuel in the face of treachery, violence, and a shocking tragedy that threatens everything she's ever wanted?

Set in a whimsical Lancaster County of fantastic possibility grounded in strong Christian values, sixteen-year-old Amish orphan Ella faces constant abuse as she struggles to do all of her own chores as well as those of her two older cousins. Ella has only her whittling and a deep and abiding faith in God to give her strength and comfort. Desperately wishing for some kind of escape, but knowing that it is almost impossible as she has neither time nor permission to step away from her work to court with other local boys, Ella prays every day for a chance to pursue her dream of having a loving home and family of her own. But when Ella meets the deacon's nephew, Samuel, who has moved from Somerset to Lancaster, will their instant connection be enough to defeat the treachery of Ella's cousins, the violence of her uncle, and a tragedy that threatens to destroy the fragile hope for a future that Ella has managed to hold onto in spite of all odds?

Find out in Amish Cinderella - Book 2 by Rachel Stoltzfus

• Language: English
• Publisher: Global Grafx Press
• Release date: Dec 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502206411

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STOP!

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Chapter ONE

Chapter TWO

Chapter THREE

Chapter FOUR

PREVIEW – BOOK 3

Chapter ONE

A Special Thank You Gift for You

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

Dearest Reader,

I have always been enamored of how literature allows us to step into new worlds and see things through different eyes. As a child, my grandmother gave me a book of colorfully illustrated Bible stories that I read from cover to cover. In addition, I immersed myself in fanciful literature including Grimm’s original fairy tales (in English) and C.S. Lewis’s masterpiece, The Chronicles of Narnia.

While my recent fiction has been of a solidly realist bent, I wanted to do something a bit different for the holidays. I happened on a very interesting article from Robert Treskillard on Holy Worlds: A Community of Christ Centered Creativity where he asks, "How can a fantasy story be Christian?"

After pointing out that a story cannot be Christian because the word Christian simply means a follower of Christ (as it was first used in Antioch in the 1st century,) Mr. Treskillard goes on to discuss the perils that many of us face in defining Christian fiction purely in terms of a market.

Implicitly, this begs the question: as Christian writers, is our goal simply to preach to our own choirs, or are we meant to have a greater ministry?

In response to this question, Mr. Treskillard offers a challenge:

I want you to raise the standard.  To stop thinking of Christian in terms of marketing, but instead think of it in terms of Christ’s glory. I would like us to think of Christian fantasy to mean Christ glorifying fantasy.

In other words, maybe we need to start thinking intentionally, authentically, boldly, and delightedly about glorifying Christ—and therefore God—through our fantasy novels.

As I’ve had this idea of mixing the real and fantastic together in an Amish story since Ruth wrote her Amish Christmas Carol last year, I decided this would be my year!

I hope you enjoy these Amish Fairy Tale stories. They are set in a world similar (though at points a bit different) from our own. I’ve done my best to integrate aspects of Amish culture with traditional fairy tales in a way that I hope is whimsical and at the same time, brings glory and honor to our Lord.

I hope I am, in some small way, able to meet Mr. Treskillard’s challenge through these Amish Fairy Tales. And I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

All the Best,

Rachel

Chapter ONE

Behind me, Uncle Barnabas found some time for a private consultation with our beloved Deacon Coopersmith.

You’re sick, Eli?  I didn’t know.

Deacon Coopersmith nodded as they strolled on.  It’s a cancer, in the guts, I’m afraid.  I’m glad nobody has seen it in me. I’d thought it was easily visible.

Your courage is an example to us all, Eli. As is your young nephew.

He is impressive, is he not?  I knew he’ll serve you all very well. A pause. You’re not ... put off by his... condition?

What?  Me?  No, Eli, of course not!  Why, both my daughters were so entranced by him, I couldn’t keep the one from crawling over the other to speak with him.

What of your niece, Ella?

Uncle Barnabas stammered, shrugged and nodded.  She doesn’t know her place. She’s certainly no match for your nephew.

I’ve spoken with Ella a few times over the years, Barnabas, and I may say the rumors of her impairment strike me as exaggerated.

Oh, well, Eli, you knew how rumors get started.  I certainly never said she was impaired, simply ... lacking in sufficient blessings to warrant being a bigger part of the community.

Yet I find quite the opposite, Deacon Coopersmith said.  I also notice she has a certain gait today... twisted, as if she’s in some pain as she moves.  I’ve not seen it in her before.

Uncle Barnabas cleared his throat.  Well, she’s been working especially hard lately. It may be taking some toll on her.

Perhaps you’re working her too hard then, eh?  Why not give her some relief?

But she’s —

She is your niece, Barnabas, your family,

After a stammering silence, Uncle Barnabas nodded in agreement.  Of course, you’re right, Deacon. I’ll see to it the child has some rest.  Now, on to the matter of your own family...

My nephew desires a bride, of course, Deacon Coopersmith said, but his standards are very high.  My nephew may seem blind to you, but he has greater insight to the human character than any of us, as he is not distracted by such things as beauty or earthly endowments.

That’s the very ideal we all strive for.

Exactly, Barnabas.  And it is the standard to which any woman must rise if she hopes to share his bed and mother his children.  I have no more to say on the matter than this: the woman who finds his favor will be a very lucky and a very happy woman indeed, and her whole family will be in a position to flourish in the community.  And as lucky and blessed as she may be, first she must be worthy, as good a person within as she is without.  When he finds that woman, he’ll know; we’ll all know.  And the lucky lovers will truly live happily ever after.

***

The next night, my uncle and cousins sat around their dinner table eating the Amish haystack, chicken divan and coconut-pecan pie I’d prepared, while I sat on the kitchen floor with the plate in my lap.  I could see them in the next room through the doorway, around the table like civilized people, from my place in the corner, huddled like a dog.

Uncle Barnabas said, I’ve decided to marry one of you off to the deacon’s nephew, Samuel. 

Both my cousins brightened up at the prospect, straightening up in their chairs.  I sank lower in the corner. 

My uncle went on. You’re both pleased with that prospect, I presume?

They nodded and giggled their agreement.

"So, of course, you will both have to