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“Bonnet Books”

Written on: May 27th, 2009 by: in News

They’ve been called “bonnet books” (although the term isn’t popular amongst the genre’s writers) and in the Delaware Library Catalog they’ve been a hot property for a long time- particularly in the Georgetown and Greenwood libraries, where they routinely top the lists of most-popular subjects and authors. The media have just started to catch up with the popularity of Amish-themed romance novels, as seen in this story and it’s accompanying feature on “Nightline”.

The ABC News piece focused on Cindy Woodsmall, author of the Sisters of the Quilt trilogy, but at least in Delaware, Wanda Brunstetter is more popular, along with Beverley Lewis. You can see a list of most of our Amish-themed fiction here.

Most of these works fall under the Romance category, but the central conflicts are often between the opposing cultural values and expectations of the Amish and “English” communities, with the protagonists often challenged with finding ways to follow their hearts while remaining true to their beliefs.

For those with an interest in learning more about non-fictional aspects of Amish and Mennonite culture and belief, Donald Kraybill and John Hostetler have each produced many authoritative but accessible books on these subjects- Kraybill’s most recent book on the Nickel Mines School shooting of 2006 is particularly impressive, in its challenge to our mainstream notions about retribution and forgiveness.