Plain Patterns

When Savannah Mast's fiancé dumps her a week before their wedding, she flees California for the safety of her Amish grandmother's farm near Nappanee, Indiana. She's not planning on staying long but becomes unexpectedly entangled in the search for a missing Amish girl. She can't leave-especially not when her childhood friend Tommy Yoder is implicated as a suspect. When Savannah accompanies her grandmother to Plain Patterns, a nearby quilt shop, the owner and local historian, Jane Berger, relates a tale about another woman's disappearance back in the 1800s that has curious echoes to today. Inspired by the story, Savannah does all she can to find the Amish girl and clear Tommy's name. But when her former fiancé shows up, begging her to return to California and marry him after all, she must choose between accepting the security of what he has to offer or continuing the complicated legacy of her family's faith.

When wild child Sophie Deiner-the daughter of an Amish bishop-is forced to return to Nappanee, Indiana, quilt-shop owner Jane Berger is one of only a few who welcome her back. It's the last place she wants to be, but Sophie's recent illness requires that she recover for a while. As Sophie heals, she befriends a group of migrant workers and is appalled to learn of the wretched living conditions they're forced to endure. Sophie begins advocating on their behalf, but soon finds herself opposed by an ex-boyfriend who is the farm foreman. Jane begins relating the story of an Amish couple who rescued survivors of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, many of whom were Irish immigrants. And Sophie is more convinced than ever that she needs to fight for the powerless. But when digging deeper makes conditions even worse, has she chosen a fight she can't win?

Tally Smucker's quiet life of reading and quilting masks her sorrow over her mother's declining health and the lack of a fulfilling future for herself. When her entire world is shaken by her free-spirited neighbor Danielle, who grew up Plain but joined the Army at eighteen, Tally's instinct is to distance herself. Yet she finds she can't turn away when Danielle's brother, Kenan, specifically asks for her help. She invites Danielle to visit Plain Patterns quilt shop with her, where owner Jane Berger begins telling a story set during World War I. The plight of a soldier and the girl he left behind resonates with both Tally and Danielle, but for different reasons. When Tally's mother suffers a stroke at the same time Danielle's PTSD becomes unmanageable, it seems Tally's efforts to aid them only make things worse. Can Jane's story, along with the care of Kenan, help Tally accept the hope--for all of them--that waits just around the corner?