Beverly Lewis Talks Life, Fame, Corine Gatti

Author Beverly Lewis

Best-selling author Beverly Lewis’ character Rose Kauffman returns to the scene, yet again, feeding the frenzy for Amish fiction with The Judgment--the second installment of The Rose Trilogy. April will also showcase Lewis’s first book of the The Heritage of Lancaster County series, The Shunning, directed by Michael Landon Jr. that will premiere on the Hallmark Channel April 16. Within the whirlwind, Lewis shares God’s gospel through her prose, even after the 70-plus books she’s authored. Today as she glances towards horizon at Pikes Peak, Colorado admiring the dusting of snow, Lewis didn’t grimace when she talked about her ministry. God is her first love as much as her beloved characters living out their lives on the pages of her novels.

The Judgment and Amish Prayers is available now at the Beliefnet store.

The Beginning

I was about eight years old when I heard these interesting asympathist stories, true stories about my maternal grandmother from my mother and her many siblings. They were talking a lot then when they would do dishes and such and just at family gatherings about this courageous grandmother of mine who followed her heart and followed the Lord and married the man she loved. My mother was a pastor’s wife and this grandmother of mine, Ada Buchwalter, had a very close relationship with Christ. She married this man that she loved, ministerial student, and she was shunned.

I felt that between my mother and four of her sisters I had a pretty good idea what Aida had done in order to follow what she felt was a good-line calling in her life to be a minister’s wife and to abandon the very structured rules and regulations of her church community. Because of that and because of her personality, some of her daughters, some of my aunts had a similar sort of spunky free thinking. I’m going to grab onto Jesus and do what he says, that sort of mentality.

The Beginning 2

Most all my Amish gals, the protagonists in my books are similar to my grandma Aida’s personality. Not to say that she pushed the boundaries, well she certainly did spiritually, but I think she’s been a huge inspiration to me and also we lived very close to Amish farmland growing up in Lancaster. I had many opportunities to be in Amish homes. My dad seemed to be a magnet spiritually for Amish seekers who wanted to know what the new testament, what Jesus’ teachings really were about because so much of the sermons and so much of what they were taught was dictated more by the old testament and also by the mandate set down by Joseph Amman, 300 years ago.

I guess as a young girl with the organization, the family life, the way the very young children were submissive and obedient and gentle, soft-spoken, had a yielding spirit which they indoctrinate that of course from early on, I was absolutely taken by it because I guess I didn’t see that whole yielding to God, the bishop, the church, your older brother, your father, that just being submissive in a kindly sort of way as to obeying.

The Media and the Amish

I have so many story ideas I won't live long enough to tell them all I’m sure. My husband just rolls his eyes sometimes when I say that. I have lots of people saying oh would you write my shunning story or my uncle left the Amish and this is what they did to him and it was brutal but you know, I think there’s enough sensational aspects that the media picks up. The major media I’m talking about that bully about this situation or this bad situation or this, I’m not going to even say the word but you know what I am talking about as far as the bad things that happen in the Amish community. Bad things happen in every community. Bad things happen in church communities that you’re familiar with but for some reason, the Amish community seems to continually be in the media and I don’t know if the reality shows kind of fueled that interest or not but I’ve been told by so many Amish friends they appreciate that I don’t go for the jugular vein with the bad stuff because there is bad stuff. Why not focus on the pretty normal life, the pretty typical and the traditional life of Lancaster County Amish. That’s what I know.

Amish Readers

The [Amish youth] send me snail mail mostly. I do get some of the young people who are Rumspringa and their bishops had told them that they could have a computer and email account until they join the church and then they’ll write to me. Not on Facebook yet but maybe at some point. They send me emails to talk to me about certain books that they’ve read or whatever and someone said a lot of us have been, some of the older women in our church district discourage us from reading your books or other Amish stories written by Christians because they just want to keep, I’m sure, they want to keep a lid on the young people. Pretty typically when Amish young people encounter the life and vivaciousness of living a spiritual life in relationship with Christ, they don’t stay and so I can see why. There’s freedom in the Lord, you know, and it’s just a way of, but so when you tell young people not to do something, what are they going to do? They’re going to do it.