Annette Blair

Historical/19th Century Ohio Amish Community

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When his wife dies in childbirth, Adam Zucker is nearly mad with grief. He believes his four daughters would be best cared for by a family friend while he drinks himself into a stupor to deal with his loss.

Sarah Lapp moves into Adam's home to care for the girls. She thinks it's the closest she'll come to being a mother; she's a spinster and a midwife, neither of which make her a hot commodity on the Amish marriage market.

Once the community's bishop decides Adam and Sarah must marry or be shunned, Sarah vows to make Adam see he has much more to offer his daughters -- and her -- than anger and disinterest.

Sensual and thematic tension, heartache, and Annette Blair's fine writing and wit combine in equal measure to make "The Butterfly Garden" a unique, romantic, and thoroughly pleasing novel. It's a keeper.