Plain Jayne

Title: PLAIN JAYNE
Author: Hillary Manton Lodge
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
January 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7369-2698-0
Genre: Inspirational/contemporary—Amish

Jayne Tate is a top-notch reporter at a top Portland newspaper, but with the death of her father, Jayne’s work is beginning to suffer. Her boss strongly suggests that Jayne take a three week vacation so she can rest and get her head back into the game when she returns. Jayne isn’t real happy about it, but she reluctantly agrees, but instead of going home to be with her mother and sister, Jayne heads out to Amish country, having decided to freelance an article about the Amish.

The first person she meets is Levi Burkholder, the owner of an Amish furniture store. He agrees to set her up at an Amish farmhouse while she is in town, and so he takes her home to meet his family—his mother and siblings. Martha is more than happy to board Jayne for a few days, and Jayne immediately is immersed into the family. There she learns that even though Levi was never baptized into the Amish church, he has been essentially shunned by his father and brothers.

Even though Jayne is seeing a man back home in Portland, she is attracted to Levi and the simple life he represents. But will this laptop using, motorcycle-riding reporter give up her dream career for a chance with a carpenter? What will it take for her to reconcile with her family?

PLAIN JAYNE is a no-holds barred look at the Amish from an outsider’s point of view. This is the type of information I found when I started seriously researching the Amish, and stuff that most Amish writers seem afraid to touch. This book doesn’t just scratch the pretty surface of the Amish; it gets down and shows you what is in their closets. I really appreciated this.

I totally love PLAIN JAYNE and absolutely cannot wait for the next book in this series to be released, and I hope I’ll have a chance to review it. This is an absolutely wonderful book and I can’t praise this debut novel high enough! $13.99. 289 pages.

ABOUT THE STORY
Jayne Tate is an investigative reporter for a major daily. When her editor demands she take time off to grieve the death of her father and get her writing back up to par, Jayne instead follows her instincts. She's certain there's a story to uncover about the Amish, but where to start?

An initial interview with the intriguing owner of an Amish furniture store opens the door for Jayne to live with the Amish family he left behind. What she doesn't yet know is that her journalistic observations of this sincere, yet conflicted family are destined to cause reflections of her own childhood.