The Search (37 page)
Authors: Suzanne Fisher
“No, Billy.” Her voice was gentle and polite and sincere. “But thank you anyway.”
His face was surprised and sad. More sad than surprised.
He began to say something.
“Bess, I do care for you . . .” Then he stopped.
Bess waited quietly. His words drifted on the still night air.
“I never meant to . . .” He stopped again.
“It’s all right, Billy,” Bess said. “Really.” It
was
all right. “Mammi used to tell me: ‘Gut Ding will Weile haben.’ ”
Good things take time.
She used to think Mammi meant food—like not rushing the making of a pie crust—but now Bess realized she meant other good things too. Like love. And the mending of a broken heart.
Maybe someday, when the time was right, Bess and Billy would find their way to each other. But maybe not. That time would be far off in the invisible future. And if there was one thing Bess had learned she couldn’t see at the age of fifteen, it was ahead.
She thought she saw tears in Billy’s eyes and looked away quickly. Then she walked quietly past him to go back to the fire to join her friends.
Discussion Questions
1. Conflict and reconciliation are central themes in
The Search
. Discuss the ways in which the characters come to peace with their past.
2. What kind of a woman was Bertha Riehl? As you were reading, what was your reaction to her? Did your opinion change over time?
3. As Jonah puts Bess on the bus to go to Stoney Ridge, he tells her, “Be careful because—”
Bess teased him that each time he said goodbye to her, even as she hopped on the school bus, he would add the caution, “Be careful, because . . .”
Because . . . I won’t be there to protect you. Because . . . accidents happen.
What is Jonah really afraid of? How does he finally come to terms with that fear?
4. In one scene with her two visiting friends, Lainey defends her decision not to go to culinary school, as she had planned. “I’ve learned more about cooking in the last few months here than I ever could in a formal school. Here, food means more than nourishing a body. Sharing a meal nourishes a community.” What did she mean by that? In what ways is the Amish relationship to food and meals different from mainstream society’s?
5. Simon spent a lifetime trying to be “significant.” What finally spoke to his heart? Do you think his change was permanent?
6. What kind of future do you see for Bess and Billy? Do you think they will end up together? Or do you think Bess has outgrown Billy?
7. Do you think Bess will ever tell Simon that he is her biological father? Do you want her to tell him? Why or why not?
8. What did you learn about Amish life in reading this novel?
Acknowledgments
I’d like to express my deep appreciation to my family, near and far. To my sister, Wendy, and daughter, Lindsey, and good friend, Nyna Dolby, who generously shared their insights and also read an early draft of this manuscript. A heartfelt thanks for reading this manuscript with tough and loving eyes, offering candor and guidance. As always, enormous gratitude to my agent, Joyce Hart, for being so wise, warm, and steadfast. I’m very grateful to all the people at Revell, especially my editors, Andrea Doering and Barb Barnes, who make my books so much better.
And above all, abiding gratitude goes to the Lord God, for his wisdom on matters seen and unseen.
Suzanne Woods Fisher
is the author of
The Choice
, the bestselling first book in the Lancaster County Secrets series. Her grandfather was raised in the Old Order German Baptist Brethren Church in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Her interest in living a simple, faith-filled life began with her Dunkard cousins.
Suzanne is also the author of
Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World
, a finalist for the ECPA Book of the Year award, and
Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life
. She is the host of “
Amish Wisdom
,” a weekly radio program on
toginet.com
. She lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area and raises puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. To Suzanne’s way of thinking, you just can’t take life too seriously when a puppy is tearing through your house with someone’s underwear in its mouth.
Books by Suzanne Woods Fisher
Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World
Amish Proverbs: Words of Wisdom from the Simple Life
Lancaster County Secrets
