Mattie’s Pledge

Mattie Schrock is daydreamer longing for a different life, so when her father decides to move her Amish family further west she is ready. She remembers their move from Lancaster County to Brothers Valley in western Pennsylvania seven years before, and looks forward to getting reacquainted with Jacob Yoder and childhood friends who are joining them. They are headed through the Great Black Swamp, now fertile farmland in northern Ohio, to Amish settlements in Indiana. Jacob and Mattie renew their friendship, but Mattie yearns to keep moving west instead of settling. Enter the Bates brothers, Englishers who seem to have more on their minds than sharing a meal. Cole Bates takes special interest in Mattie, tempting her with stories of the western mountains. Will Mattie choose to go with Cole or stay with Jacob? Set in the 1840’s. hte story of this Amish migration is a fascinating, fact-based journey through the history, struggles, and beauty of an untamed land. Fans of Amish fiction will enjoy Drexler’s tale of striking out in the wild unknown. Agent: Sarah Joy Freese, WordServe Literary Agency (Sept.)