A SIMPLE CHARITY - Rosalind Lauer
Lancaster Crossroads , Book 3
Ballantine Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-0-345-54330-1
November 2014
Amish Fiction

The Town of Halfway, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - Present Day

Fannie Lapp, in her late twenties, is a widow for the second time following the death of her beloved husband, Thomas, leaving her with a brand new baby son and five other children.  Fannie has been assisting the local midwife, Anna Beiler, while Anna is away visiting family in Florida.  Today, at the bare break of dawn, Lizzie King is in labor, and Fanny bundles up her five-month-old baby boy, Thomas, to drive through the snow to help Lizzie.  Fanny remembers the birthing center where she helped her grandmother, and wishes there was a place here in Halfway for women to stay when their baby's birth is imminent.  Unfortunately, Lizzie's birthing becomes an emergency near the end, and Fannie knows she needs a doctor's help.  But Doc Trueherz is not available, and his replacement for the night, Dr. Minetta, has not arrived at the King home yet.  Thankfully, help comes to Lizzie and Fannie in the form of Meg Harper.

Englischer Meg Harper assists Lizzie birthing her child, hoping against hope that no one discovers her part in this little drama.  Although she is a licensed midwife, her license is currently suspended pending an investigation into the most recent birth she attended.  Hiding out in Halfway with her sister Zoey, who owns the local bed and breakfast, Meg has taken over as the inn's cook!  Far and away from her normal skill set, the job is keeping her busy while she muddles through the charges against her and decides what to do with her future.

Zed Miller left the Amish life in his teens and recently returned to figure out his future.  Finding it hard to integrate himself back into the community in Halfway, Zed is doing his best to ignore gossip about the years he was away.  Now, Bishop Samuel has sent him to the Lapp farm.  Fannie Lapp wants help renovating the old carriage house, and Zed is happy for the job.  He will do whatever it takes to keep busy while he proves himself.

Welcome back to the tiny town of Halfway and A SIMPLE CHARITY!  Populated with wonderful people, both English and Amish, Halfway is home to a series of delightful and charming characters and their stories.  A SIMPLE CHARITY is the newest and very special book in the Lancaster Crossroads series.  The third book in this series, A SIMPLE CHARITY, is preceded by A SIMPLE HOPE (March 2014) and A SIMPLE FAITH (November 2013), as well as a seventy-seven page Kindle novella, A SIMPLE CROSSROADS (July 2013).  All of the books stand alone and are great uplifting and romantic stories.

A SIMPLE CHARITY is Fanny Lapp's story about her decision to turn her deceased husband's old carriage house into a birthing clinic for the local Amish women.  Fanny longs for a place where these women can go through the birthing process, and then stay and rest for several days before taking up their rigorous household duties back at their homes.  Fanny welcomes Zed Miller's help with the project, and soon the time spent with Zed becomes precious to both of them as they grow closer every day.

All of the characters from the previous novels are here inside the pages of A SIMPLE CHARITY as Fannie and Zed fall in love.  This is a wonderful story full of romance and love.

Dina Risso