Winter’s Awakening (22 page)
Read Winter’s Awakening Online
Authors: Shelley Shepard Gray
Thank you so much for picking up
Winter’s Awakening
! I hope you enjoyed Joshua and Gretta’s story.
I vividly remember the first time I visited Sugarcreek, Ohio. It was in the spring, and the rolling hills, leafy trees, and dark, rich pastures were absolutely beautiful. While there, we visited a number of quaint shops and inns. Some looked distinctly Amish. Others were more Swiss inspired. After eating pie at a local restaurant and visiting a few quilt shops, I knew I couldn’t wait to return. Luckily, I have been able to visit several more times—but each visit always feels like it goes by much too fast.
I feel very fortunate that Avon Inspire allowed me to write the Seasons in Sugarcreek series. Each day at my computer, I get to pretend I’m there! I have to admit, it’s a great way to spend a day. While the “Sugarcreek” in my book is not an exact match to the actual town, I hope I was able to convey a sense of the beauty and charm of the area.
At the moment, I’m hard at work writ
ing
Spring’s Renewal
, Book Two of the series. Already I’ve fallen in love with my heroine, Clara. I hope you’ll like her, too. Of course, Lilly returns. So do Joshua and Gretta and the rest of the Allens and Grabers. Something unexpected happens to all of them, too.
I love receiving e-mails and letters from readers. If you have a moment, please visit my Web site (www.shelleyshepardgray.com) and let me know what you thought about the book! Or, you may write to me at: Shelley Shepard Gray, 10663 Loveland-Madeira Rd., Loveland, OH 45140.
In the meantime, God bless you all.
Shelley
- Chapter 1 opens with the Graber and Allen kids observing each other and coming to some correct—and some incorrect—conclusions. What has been your experience with first impressions? Are they usually correct? How does a person make a favorable first impression to you?
- Divorce is almost nonexistent in the Old Order Amish culture. How do you think that influences Amish courting couples? Compare their dating norms to the rest of today’s society.
- Lilly Allen’s pregnancy weighs heavily on each member of her family. How could some of their disagreements have been handled better?
- How do you see Lilly handling the pregnancy and being a single mother in the future?
- What do you think about Joshua and Lilly’s friendship? Does it seem true to life? Or, do you think it’s almost impossible to have a close friendship with a person of the opposite sex?
- Each main character in the novel experiences an “awakening”—a realization that he or she needs to forge a different path in life. Gretta’s awakening revolves around her future with Josh and her own experiences at home. No matter what, she doesn’t want to have a marriage similar to her parents’ marriage. What are Joshua’s and Lilly’s “awakenings”?
- How does the Pennsylvania Dutch saying, “We Grow Old So Fast and Wise So Slow” pertain to
Winter’s Awakening
? Which characters could illustrate this saying? - The scripture verse from Philippians, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God is calling us,” guided my writing of the novel. I felt that each character needed to examine his or her relationship with the Lord in order to gain the peace and goals they wanted. Could this verse ever be applied to you, or to someone you love?
- Have you ever been in the Grabers’ situation? Have you ever lost good neighbors and had to learn to get
along with far different types of people next door? What were some of the obstacles that you overcame? - The next two books in the series will once again focus on these two families. What do you think might be some of the obstacles that the Allens or Grabers will encounter?
SHELLEY SHEPARD GRAY
is the author of the Sisters of the Heart series:
Hidden, Wanted
, and
Forgiven
. She lives with her family in southern Ohio where she writes full time.
www.shelleyshepardgray.com
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
Cover photograph of woman by Benjamin Hill
Cover photograph of landscape © Shutterstock images
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
WINTER’S AWAKENING
. Copyright © 2010 by Shelley Shepard Gray. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, Shelley Shepard.
Winter’s awakening/by Shelley Shepard Gray.
p. cm.—(Seasons of sugarcreek ; bk. 1)
ISBN 978-0-06-185222-0 (pbk.)
1. Amish—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3607.R3966W365 2010
813'.6—dc22
2009036259
EPub Edition © December 2009 ISBN: 978-0-06-196826-6
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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