Leslie Gould is a Christy Award–winning and #1 bestselling author of more than 48 novels, including four Lancaster County Amish series. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and an MFA in creative writing. She enjoys church history, research trips, and hiking in the Pacific Northwest. She and her husband live in Portland, Oregon, and have four adult children and two grandchildren.

In this interview, Leslie shares why she’s so drawn to writing about Amish communities.

FF: Can you please provide a brief summary of your novel The Shop Down the Lane?
Lois Yoder works and finds meaning at Paradise Found, a gift shop in Paradise, Pennsylvania. When her childhood friend turned nemesis, Moses Lantz, buys the property with plans to turn it into a tourist site, she joins a birding circle letter under an alias as a distraction. Little does she know that Moses has joined the same circle letter, also under an alias. As Moses ramps up his plans for Paradise Found, which include disturbing the nearby woods full of birds, he and Lois become more and more perturbed with each other in real life—while falling for each other through their letters.

FF: Your story deals with the delicate balance between preserving tradition and adapting to change. How do you see Amish communities navigating this in real life?
I’ve been told that when the Amish community evaluated a new technology in the past, such as the telephone in the early twentieth century and cell phones in the late twentieth century, they asked this question: “Will this draw us closer to God, our community, and family or pull us further away?” In response to the telephone, the most common decision was to put it in the barn or a phone shed where it wouldn’t interrupt family life. As far as cell phones, although it differs from community to community, many allow them for business purposes—but not to be used in the home. The same critical thinking used to evaluate technology is used by the Amish over and over in response to the changing world around them. God, community, and family come first.

FF: Can you tell us about your research process for creating authentic Amish characters and settings?
I’ve visited Amish and Mennonite communities in multiple states, and I continually read both scholarly books and first-person accounts, both historical and contemporary, about Anabaptists. I also run my initial ideas by a dear friend who left the Amish in her late twenties. She helps authenticate my stories. Then she reads an early version of the novel and redirects me, if needed. (Any mistakes I make are mine!) My goal is to create plausible characters, settings, and story ideas.

FF: Moses has left the Amish faith to become Mennonite. Can you explain the significance of this choice and how it impacts the story?
Moses loses most of his family and his Amish community at the same time and then, as a single young man, fails to put down deep roots in his new Mennonite church. Because of that, he doesn’t have adult mentors in his life to guide and encourage him as he navigates his early twenties and managing a couple of businesses he acquires. His circumstances make him an easy target for gossipers in the community but also keep him isolated and floundering as he tries to come to terms with his current and future responsibilities.

FF: The gift shop represents different things to Lois and Moses. What inspired this conflict over the shop’s future?
Originally two films, The Shop Around the Corner and the rom-com You’ve Got Mail, inspired my idea for The Shop Down the Lane, so from the beginning I knew I wanted a shop at the heart of the story. As the story developed, the shop—Paradise Found—became a metaphor for the conflict between Lois and Moses. Lois sees the shop and its grounds as a sanctuary, while Moses sees the property as a means of generating income to pay for his mother’s Alzheimer’s care.

FF: How does faith play a role in helping your characters overcome their past hurts and present conflicts?
Both Moses and Lois are basically alone in the world, something highly unusual for Anabaptist youth or anyone who is Anabaptist for that matter. They both, out of desperation, come to rely more and more on themselves. Both must choose whether to turn back to God and their community for direction and support or continue to struggle on their own.

FF: You’ve written many Amish fiction novels. What keeps drawing you back to this genre?
Over half of my 49 published novels have been centered around the Amish—so, yes, I definitely keep coming back to the genre and for several different reasons. First of all, like so many people, I’m fascinated with how the Amish have been able to preserve their religion and especially their culture in the middle of modern America. I’m also drawn to their history and how the persecution they faced in Europe still impacts the group today, centuries later. Although the lives of the Amish aren’t simple—they face the same challenges Englishers do—their lifestyle is streamlined due to their limited use of technology, their tight-knit communities, and the hierarchy of their churches. All of those aspects draw me to the genre and shape my storytelling.

FF: The bird-watching element adds an interesting layer to the story. What made you include this particular hobby?
The series is titled LETTERS FROM LANCASTER COUNTY, and The Shop Down the Lane centers around a circle letter, which are common in Mennonite and Amish communities. A circle letter is usually focused on a topic for a specific group of people, such as those in trying situations, or the letters might be focused on an activity such as birding, which worked perfectly for me!

I loved how the birding theme allowed me to both showcase the beauty of Lancaster County and the sensitive sides of Lois and Moses. And although I’m not a birder, my parents inspired me as a young child to observe birds. I’ve enjoyed doing so my entire life. I loved researching the birds in this story. Thankfully my editor Hannah Ahlfield is a birder and guided me through several corrections when it came to details about our feathered friends.

FF: What message do you hope readers take away from The Shop Down the Lane?
In the story, Lois remembers something her father said that impacted her from an early age. “Her father used to tell her everything she needed to know about life in their Amish community she could learn from birds. Rise early. Sing to Gott. Flock together. Work hard. She didn’t remember a time when her family didn’t observe birds.” The message of The Shop Down the Lane can be condensed to the greatest commandment: “Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself.”

FF: What are you working on next?
I’m in the middle of writing the second book in the LETTERS FROM LANCASTER COUNTY series. My working title for the story, inspired by When Harry Met Sally, is Just Friends. It’s another fun rom-com, this time about Joanna and Adam. What I’m really loving about the story, besides the quirky main characters, is that I have a cast of grandparents scheming and matchmaking and basically stirring up trouble.
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The Shop Down the Lane
Letters From Lancaster Country, Book #1
Leslie Gould
Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
Genres: Amish, Romance
Release Date: May 6, 2025

ISBN-10: 0764244221
ISBN-13: 978-0764244223

Book Summary:
Lois Yoder has always found solace in the quiet life of Paradise, Pennsylvania, where she manages a gift shop that reflects her Amish community’s simple values. Her tranquil world is upended when Moses Lantz, a former Amishman turned Mennonite and the man who broke her heart, buys the shop with ambitious plans to transform it into a tourist hub–a move that Lois fiercely opposes.

Seeking a distraction, Lois joins a bird watchers’ circle letter under an alias. But unknown to her, Moses does the same at the urging of a friend. While their correspondence blossoms into a tender romance, the enmity between Lois and Moses in real life only intensifies. Can they overcome their animosity and embrace the love they’ve found through their letters, or will their stubborn hearts keep them apart forever?

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