BooksChatter: ✉ A Bit About Her Secret

Today author Shelley Shepard Gray takes over our blog to tell us about her latest novel, Her Secret: The Amish of Hart County (14 March 2017, Avon Inspire, 272 pages), an Inspirational Amish Romantic Suspense.

"It's easy to connect with the well-developed characters in this engaging Amish mystery, which contains just the right amount of romance and twists. The story is a page-turner from the start." --RTBookReviews

"Shelley Shepard Gray s HER SECRET gives the reader an intriguing look into the life and struggles of a very real Amish family and a believable heroine. Beautifully balancing a charming romance with suspense, this story pulls at the heartstrings." --Karen Harper, New York Times bestselling author of FALL FROM PRIDE

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A BIT ABOUT HER SECRET

If someone is new to the Amish fiction genre, they might be surprised by my latest novel, HER SECRET. The story centers around Hannah Hilty, a young Amish woman who has been terrorized by a stalker and flees to a small, rural town in the heart of Kentucky. This premise, one which is popular in mainstream novels, isn’t necessarily the usual plot that comes to mind when one thinks about Inspirational Amish romance.

I would agree. HER SECRET is my thirty-fourth Amish romance, and while I’ve written about characters battling cancer, grief, abuse, and addiction before, I’ve never ventured into a storyline like this.

However, as I was writing the novel, I realized that what made this novel different wasn’t that an Amish woman was being stalked, it was how she, her family, and eventually their whole community, responded to her situation.

Sometimes people assume that because a person is Amish, drives a buggy, wears ‘plain’ clothing and usually lives apart from mainstream society that nothing bad could ever happen to them. I think that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When you consider that there are over 40,000 Amish in Holmes County, Ohio alone, it’s obvious that the Amish aren’t exempt from experiencing their fair share of problems.

What is different, however, is how they respond to violence. Their culture and faith encourages them to shy away from both retaliation and the outside world. They also rely on their faith and family to help them through difficult times. Because of this, my heroine’s parents respond to Hannah’s situation far differently than someone who is English. Instead of going to the police for help, they run. Instead of confronting the stalker or deliberately attempting to stop it, they pray and hope it would just go away. These choices-and the Amish community’s isolation from technology-increased the suspense.

I also liked exploring the characters’ faith in the novel, especially how it faith gave them the strength to confront their fears, reveal their secrets, and ultimately allowed them to triumph. This steadfast faith is the reason I so enjoy writing stories featuring Amish characters. It makes me want to take a deeper look into my own beliefs, and, at times, question how I would handle things.

I hope people will give HER SECRET a try. Maybe they’ll be interested in the romantic suspense element, the Amish communities in Kentucky, or the inspirational elements in the book. No matter what, I hope everyone will enjoy it as much as I loved writing the book!

Shelley Shepard Gray