Good news is coming in twos for author Wanda E. Brunstetter. “Amish Country’s Most Beloved Storyteller” has learned her February novel, THE RESTORATION, earned the #1 spot on both the February Publishers Weekly Religion Bestseller List and also the top berth on the March Evangelical Christian Publishers Association’s List.
What is making the conclusion of Brunstetter’s Prairie State Friends trilogy for Shiloh Run Press resonate with readers?
“THE REVELATION, along with the first two books in the series, THE DECISION and THE GIFT, have touched readers, not only with compelling stories of love lost and found but with two more elements that enrich Wanda’s stories,” said Mary A. Burns, Vice President, Marketing for Barbour Books. “Those two elements are the real-life challenges her characters have to face and Wanda’s skill at conveying how faith is the bed-rock that enables them to cope, make decisions and find fulfillment in their lives.”
In fact, when Brunstetter sat down to plot the trilogy, she remembered that one of her many Amish friends across the country once told her, “We aren’t saints. We make mistakes and have to face the consequences of these mistakes like other people, just as we have to face many of the same serious issues that impact their lives.
“Each of these three stories is dear to my heart,” Brunstetter said. “THE DECISION deals with the topic of dementia and how the heroine lovingly cares for her grandmother. Having lost my mother to this tragic disease, I was able to put myself in Elaine’s place and bring to light her deepest feelings of concern and love for the woman who had raised her.”
In THE GIFT, Brunstetter dealt with abandonment and the need to forgive. “Since I grew up in a dysfunctional home, I could relate to the hero’s pain concerning his mother’s actions toward him when he was a child,” the prolific author said. “The series finale, THE RESTORATION, also incorporates the topic of forgiveness, as well as making wise choices. Both the heroine and hero are faced with choices that will be life-changing. In order to make the right decisions, they needed to be able to forgive.”
All three books in the Prairie State Friends trilogy can be read as standalones, but they are tied together by the bond of three young women who had been close friends since they were girls. A continuation of their stories is woven throughout the three books.
“I would like to thank my readers for their support of this series,” Brunstetter said. “When an author pours her heart into her stories, as I did these three, it is particularly rewarding.”
Brunstetter’s latest novel is March’s THE ENGLISH SON, the launch book in her six-part serial novel she has co-written with her daughter-in-law Jean Brunstetter.