By David Krogh

Amish Memories is a new three book series by local author Leslie Gould. Gould is the author of over 40 novels, many dealing with stories about Amish people and their adventures with others. The first book in this series is A Brighter Dawn, published in March 2023. The second book is This Passing Hour, to be published this month. The third and final book will be called By Evening’s Light, expected to be published sometime in 2024.
A Brighter Dawn is a dual-time story, meaning it moves back and forth between the main character (Ivy) in modern day (2014) Clackamas County, OR, and an ancestor (Clare) who visits Germany during the late 1930s. The plot revolves around the mystery of Ivy’s parents’ deaths and Ivy’s desire to understand her relationship with Clare’s visit to Germany.
This Passing Hour is not necessarily a sequel to A Brighter Dawn as much as it is a continuous family story, but this time involving Ivy’s younger sister, Brenna. This story is also dual-time and takes place in Lancaster County, PA, in 2017. In it, Brenna deals with several life situations and also hears from her great, great Aunt Roxene about their family’s involvement with a German prisoner of war camp that was in the area during World War II.
Both completed stories are lively, interesting and easy to read. The author has done a commendable job inserting factual historic and location references. In addition, the reader should not be confused over the references to both Amish and Mennonite church groups. The Amish and Mennonite church groups are related and are both considered to be Anabaptist Christian church fellowships. The Amish are more conservative and are often referred to as Pennsylvania Dutch or Old Order Amish. The Mennonite groups do not live as simplistic of a life as do the Amish, and it is not unusual for members to interact.
Regarding her background, Gould has degrees in history and communications from Judson Baptist College and a graduate degree in creative writing from Portland State University. Her studies have included comparative religions and her award-winning writing background has included Amish fiction and history, Christian fiction and editing.
Although not Amish or Mennonite herself, Gould has Amish ancestry and said, “A good friend, Marietta Couch, who grew up Amish in Indiana, helps with editing for accuracy regarding Amish and Mennonite practices and culture.” Another friend and author of Amish works, Mindy Starns Clark, advises Gould and has co-written with her. Gould is also an avid historical researcher and includes accurate historic elements and discussion into her fictional settings. For example, although A Brighter Dawn is a fictional story, the author discusses in great detail the issue of Anabaptist church support for the socialist regime in World War II Germany. This type of detail to actual history helps to make Gould’s stories especially realistic.
Gould and her family have visited Lancaster County, PA and other Amish communities many times for research and to interact with Amish families. She says she learns the most just by sitting down to dinner with them and talking. As to ideas for stories, Gould draws on many sources of inspiration including Shakespeare, historical events and family trips. “I always keep a travel journal and once I come up with an idea, I research just how it could occur,” she explained. She has been especially interested in World War II as her father was in the US Army in Europe at that time. “I’ve actually drawn on the emotions of my mom and dad during World War II and come up with story ideas based on diaries and scrapbooks from the period.”
The books don’t fall into a standard genre or reader demographic. Gould said, “Amish books are their own genre,” and Amish book readership interest has grown expansively and extended far beyond that of early Amish romance novels. “Current Amish stories are not necessarily young adult oriented, although principal characters often tend to be young adults. Surprisingly, the main audience is women aged 40 on up. They seem to be drawn to that type of a simple lifestyle involving people of faith with strong work ethics.”
Gould lives in Portland with her family and is an active member of the Willamette Writers and the Oregon Christian Writers groups.
The Amish Memories series is being published by Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group and the books can be purchased at bakerpublishinggroup.com/bethanyhouse. For more about Gould, visit lesliegould.com.

Amish Memories

October 27, 2023 | Feature Stories | A Brighter Dawn, Amish Memories, David Krogh, Leslie Gould, This Passing Hour