Spotlight & Giveaway: Amish Outsider by Marta Perry

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Marta Perry to HJ!

Hi Marta and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Amish Outsider!

 
Thanks so much for inviting me to join you. I’m delighted to have the chance to chat about my new book, AMISH OUTSIDER, releasing from HQN Books on June 18th.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Michael Forster returns to the Amish home and family he’d left behind for success in the outside world. The success had turned to pain and grief when he was suspected of his estranged wife’s murder. He comes to River Haven longing for peace and a new start with his small daughter. Happiness seems almost within reach when he meets the Amish schoolteacher, but a shadow from his past threatens their happiness and their lives.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

The sign at the edge of town was new since he’d been here last. Welcome to River Haven. Michael Forster could only hope the welcome was genuine and that River Haven would prove to be a haven for a man who’d lost everything.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

I find it impossible to write about the Amish without excursions into the wonderful cooking that’s been loved since the word first got out about the Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in Lancaster County and their delicious homemade noodles, potpies, dried corn puddings, and above all their delectable desserts. I learned Pennsylvania Dutch cooking from my mother and grandmother, and all those traditional dishes find their way into the books, whether I plan it or not!

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

Michael’s pain and disappointment are so deep that they intrude into every part of his life, and his efforts to help his young daughter, even when misguided, touch my heart. Cathy, his love, has the dedication of a born teacher, and as I wrote about her, I drew from the many dedicated teachers I know who can never really stop thinking about what is best for the children in their care.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

“You’re a kind person, Cathy.” At least he seemed to be looking at her now and not into the past. “My father couldn’t forgive me for running around with Englisch kids when I was a teenager. Do you honestly think he would forgive me now? Do you?”
She’d like to say yes, but it wouldn’t be true. She couldn’t see Josiah bending, not for anything.
“I’m sorry.” Pity moved her, and she reached out instinctively to clasp his hand. “I’m so sorry.”
Their fingers touched, and his hand enveloped hers. Her skin tingled where her skin pressed his, generating a heat that flowed from her palm right up her arm and straight to her heart. She gasped, unable to stop herself, hit by a feeling she’d never experienced before—a feeling that seemed to wipe every other mild attraction out of existence.
She knew her eyes widened, knew she was staring at him, imagining that his eyes darkened with emotion…
And then he’d dropped her hand as if it were a hot coal and turned away. “I’d better get those girls back to the house.”
He sounded perfectly normal, but she could only nod because her voice was caught in her throat. Why? Why had this happened to her with Michael Forster, of all people?

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I hope readers will close the book with a sense of satisfaction that no matter how long delayed, both justice and love can’t be denied.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

The second book in this series, AMISH PROTECTOR, will be out next spring. In the meantime, October will see the release of my latest book from Berkley Books, A CHRISTMAS HOME. And as always, I’m working ahead on books for the next few years!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 print copy of AMISH OUTSIDER (entrants limited to North American mailing addresses)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Have you ever returned to a place to knew very well as a child? What feelings did that experience bring out in you?

 
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Excerpt from Amish Outsider:

Cathy straightened and found herself face-to-face with Michael Forster…the man who’d run away to the Englisch and broken his mother’s heart, the man who’d come home at last with a charge of murder hanging over his head.
Whatever vague memories she might have had of Michael vanished. Michael could have been any Englischer in his worn jeans and scuffed boots. Taller than a lot of Amish, he had a sturdy frame, the heavy muscles of his shoulders moving under the fabric of his shirt as he waved at his daughter.
But Allie was already sliding into the desk next to Ruthie, seeming completely occupied. His hand fell to his side and he turned a frowning gaze on Cathy.
He looked…worn-out, she decided. As if the past months had drained every bit of energy and life from him. His face was lean, all bones and angles, and his brows were dark slashes above brown eyes that held…what? Suspicion? Wariness? Pain—that was it. He was like a hurt, baffled animal, ready to strike out against a helping hand.
If Cathy had ever seen anyone who needed comfort and caring, it was Michael Forster. Her warm heart opened to him before her rational mind could think that it might not be good to get too close to him.
She blinked, realizing she’d been staring. Focus on the child, she told herself. Allie is your responsibility, not her father.
Collecting herself, she met his eyes. “Allie looks as if she’s going to settle in fine. I don’t think you need to stay any longer.”
His frown deepened, if that were possible. “Aren’t you Mary’s little sister Cathy?”
Naturally he’d see her that way—he’d have been Mary’s contemporary in school. He couldn’t know how much it annoyed her to be constantly classified as the little sister…the runt of the litter, as her brother Eli liked to tease.
“I’m Mary’s sister, yah. And the teacher at Creekside School.” She managed a smile. “I’d best get the school day started. Is there anything I should know about Allie? Any allergies or physical problems?”
“No.” He clipped the word off. “She’s been going to a public school. I don’t know if coming here is the best fit for her.”
He clearly had doubts about bringing Allie here, so why had he? Well, Verna, of course. She answered her own question. Verna Forster always had her own notions of what folks ought to do, and more often than not, she got her way.
“We can give it a try. If it doesn’t work out, there’s no harm done. It looks as if she’s satisfied at the moment.” She glanced at the girls, their heads together, one blond and one brown. Even as she watched, Allie smoothed her hands down the front of the plain Amish dress she wore, smiling a little as if pleased with it.
Cathy looked up again at Michael, to find him watching his child with a look compounded of love, protectiveness and bafflement. Maybe he wasn’t finding it easy to be a single dad. Her heart twisted with pity, and she longed to reassure him.
“If she gets upset—” he began.
“Please don’t worry about it. She’ll be fine. If there are any problems, I’ll send someone to fetch you. You’re at Verna’s house, ain’t so?”
He nodded, giving her a bleak look. “News travels fast.”
“It’s a small town.” If he remembered anything about River Haven, he ought to remember that.
“Yes. And people have long memories.”
There didn’t seem to be any answer she could make.
“I’ll be here to pick up Allie at three o’clock. Don’t let her leave with anyone else.” It was an order, and he followed it by striding out the door.
Michael had gone, but he’d left a turbulence in the air. Or maybe the turbulence was only in her.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 

Book Info:

He returned to River Haven seeking sanctuary, but the past is determined to follow him

In the wake of his estranged wife’s murder, widower Michael Forster returns to the Amish community he’d left as a teen. He wants a fresh start for himself and his daughter, Allie, away from those who still believe he’s guilty. In River Haven, a quieter life seems possible. If only Allie’s Amish schoolteacher, Catherine Brandt, was easier to ignore.

A problem solver by nature, Cathy can tell Allie’s withdrawn demeanor isn’t due to shyness. But getting through to Allie also means breaching her father’s hardened defenses. What starts as persistence soon grows into an attraction neither Cathy nor Michael saw coming. When the past suddenly threatens both his daughter and the woman he loves, Michael must risk everything to save them.

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Meet the Author:

Marta Perry realized she wanted to be a writer at age eight, when she read her first Nancy Drew novel. A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania and her own Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta to the books she writes now about the Amish. When she’s not writing, Marta is active in the life of her church and enjoys traveling and spending time with her three children and six beautiful grandchildren. Visit her online at www.martaperry.com.
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