Plain Wisdom by Cindy Woodsmall & Miriam Flaud

I have read more fiction with an Amish setting than I care to admit.  I have even been to Lancaster, PA to gain a better understanding of their simple lifestyle.  If you enjoy any of the many authors who write fictional stories about the Amish, then Plain Wisdom might need to be your next read.  Without compromsing the privacy of the Amish, the authors do an excellent job of allowing the reader to peek into both of their everyday lives.

Plain Wisdom captures the relationship between  an Old Order Amish wife and mother, Mirium Flaud, and an "Englisher" wife and mother,  Cindy Woodsmall.  Cindy desires to write about the Amish but truly wants to understand their life before doing so.  In order to gain that understanding, she develops a friendship, through a mutual friend, with Mirium who has lived her entire life in the Amish ways.  Mirium opens her home and her life to Cindy.

One might assume that the two women were so different that they couldn't possibly learn anything from one another.  However, just the opposite is true. Each brief chapter contains a  personal account from both Cindy and Mirium.  Even though the manner in which they live their lives are so vastly different in many ways, their experiences through life are very similar and they developed a deep friendship based on their faith.  Cindy's everyday life is filled with the busyness that each of us experience each and every day.  Through her time with Mirium, Cindy realizes the simple pleasures that she is typically too busy to recognize, even the pleasure of having morning chores to complete while the day is fresh and a time to rest in the evening as the Amish must do.  My favorite quote of the book comes from Mirium when she writes, "in the garden of life, being successful isn't just about hoeing your own row but also about slowing down enough to help your brother hoe his row until he is caught up, then hoeing the rest of the field together".  If only I took the time each day to slow down and help my brother! 

Adding to the charm of the stories told in the book are scriptures opening each chapter and the scattered Amish recipes from Mirium which range from main courses to vegetables to desserts.  Plain Wisom will be released in bookstores on March 15, 2011.  It is currently available for pre-order from barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.