July 31, 2023
Fisher returns (after The Secret to Happiness) with an earnest Amish romance that interweaves divided loyalties, denominational clashes, and bird-watching. Seventeen-year-old Trudy Yoder has long carried a torch for her friend, reticent birdwatcher Micah Weaver, and is thrilled when she happens upon his birding journal and finds evidence of his feelings for her in its pages. But Micah privately pines for Trudy’s beautiful older sister Shelley (“if Shelley were a Purple-crowned Fairywren, Trudy would be a House Sparrow”), who abandoned their town of Stoney Ridge, Pa., a year ago to pursue dreams of a singing career in Nashville, but has recently begun leaving cryptic and concerning voicemails for him on the town’s guesthouse’s phone. Meanwhile, tensions ramp up as the Old Order Amish (to which Trudy and Micah belong) clash with the liberal, newer-to-town Beachy Amish. Things reach a boiling point when the Beachy receive permission to build a church on land that houses a rare eagle’s nest. As Trudy, Micah, and other townspeople work to protect the land, Shelley’s return throws a wrench into Trudy and Micah’s friendship but maybe more, and the three must untangle the love triangle. Interspersed by birdwatching logs, this charming romance is propelled by winsome, endearing characters, and digs into rich questions about tradition, progress, and loyalty. Fisher’s fans won’t be disappointed.