ABOUT THE AUTHOR
VANNETTA CHAPMAN has published more than 100 articles in Christian family magazines. She discovered her love for the Amish while researching her grandfather’s birthplace in Albion, Pennsylvania. Vannetta is a multi-award-winning member of Romance Writers of America. She currently teaches in the Texas hill country. A Simple Amish Christmas, her debut novel, released on October 1st. It is now in its 3rd printing and is a CBD bestseller. Chapman is hard at work on a three book Amish murder mystery series set in Shipshewana, Indiana. Written for Zondervan (a division of Harper Collins), these cozy mysteries will begin releasing in 2011.A SIMPLE AMISH CHRISTMAS
by Vannetta Chapman
Published by Abingdon Press
ABOUT THE BOOK
Annie Weaver always planned to return home, but the 20-year-old RN has lived in Philadelphia for three years now. Her time of rumschpringa is about to come to an abrupt end, bringing for Annie an overwhelming sense of loneliness as the Christmas season is in full swing. She returns home and finds herself face-to-face with a budding romance with an Amish farmer. Her passion for healing has caught widower Samuel Yoder's attention. Will she also capture his heart? Annie has several important choices to make, all on the morning of A Simple Amish Christmas.
Readers, buy your copy of A Simple Amish Christmas
today!AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?
My agent specifically asked me to write an Amish story, which I hadn't done before A SIMPLE AMISH CHRISTMAS. But the inspiration for this particular story came from two places--my grandparents, who I've discovered lived in Pennsylvania during the early 1900s and then the conviction that many Amish women must struggle with the same problems that you and I do.
2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?
I always bring something of myself to a story, at least in its inception. Although Annie loves her community as well as her Amish faith, she has an insatiable desire to learn. This becomes a bit of a problem when her schooling ends after the 8th grade. She's a bit adrift and dissatisfied with her employment prospects. I didn't attend college full time after high school, and I definitely was not satisfied with the secretarial work I was doing. Like Annie I've always had a desire to learn more that is never quite satisfied.
3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?
I think Annie would be Neapolitan--homemade vanilla because she has that basic goodness about her, rich chocolate to represent the more daring side of her personality that is willing to take risks, and then of course strawberry to represent the fun teasing side of her that does tend to land her in trouble occasionally.
4. Are there any themes in A Simple Amish Christmas that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?
I suppose every book has multiple themes, but the one theme that I consciously tried to develop was a focus on God's grace. Annie is young and hasn't learned to fully accept that yet. Samuel, on the other hand, knows God's grace intellectually - but part of his heart has suffered so that he no longer can embrace it. Which is why God has brought them together.
5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?
The most difficult part for me was probably the home birthing scene, since that's something I've never seen personally. However, I was present for the birth of my dear friend's daughter in a hospital room, and that was one of the most precious, blessed events I've ever witnessed. So maybe this was my most difficult and most favorite scene rolled into one.
6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?
I have a 3 book series from Zondervan which will begin releasing next year. Shipshewana Amish Mystery Series is set in Indiana and involves two women (one Amish, one English), a quilt and a dead body. I'm currently working on book two and love, love, love these ladies. Watch for the cover on my webpage and blog.
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Thank you, Vannetta, for being in the spotlight with us.
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