{"product_id":"plain-a-memoir-of-mennonite-girlhood-paperback-softback-9780299340445","title":"Plain; A Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood (Paperback \/ softback) 9780299340445","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003ePlain\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMary Alice Hostetter (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780299340445\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 7 January 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e168 pages, 1 b\u0026amp;w photo\u003cbr\u003e21.6 x 14 x 1.8 cm, 0.454 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e“An excellent meditation on faith and community.”—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[A] slim and graceful memoir.”—\u003ci\u003eMs. Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Engaging and reflective, \u003ci\u003ePlain \u003c\/i\u003eis a complex memoir about moving beyond the Mennonite faith while maintaining an integral connection to its lessons.”—\u003ci\u003eForeword Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“An authentic and evocative story. . . . These moving, tenderly rendered essays straddle the line between Hostetter expressing a fervent desire to leave her upbringing and way of life, while also finding pride and nostalgia for where she came from.”—\u003ci\u003eShelf Awareness\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hostetter’s writing is lovely and evocative of place and emotion. Readers will enjoy sinking into this quietly empowering story of coming into one’s own.”—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A deeply honest, forthright, and forgiving account of finding one’s way as a gay Mennonite. \u003ci\u003ePlain \u003c\/i\u003eshows how we the misplaced faithful take the truths of our upbringing to create beautiful stories, homes, and lives.”—Joanna Brooks, author of\u003ci\u003e The Book of Mormon Girl\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A wise and wonderful memoir about breaking away from tradition, then finally discovering its value. This clear-eyed yet affectionate coming-of-age story will resonate with anyone who has ever struggled to separate from their family and find their true, authentic self.”—Sharon Harrigan, author of \u003ci\u003ePlaying with Dynamite\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Filled with a familiar equanimity, grace, and droll humor. This book is as simple and nourishing as fresh vegetable soup and as complex as a Tibetan mandala. It will leave you pondering the depth of a single word: plain.”—Shirley Showalter, author of\u003ci\u003e Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “While \u003ci\u003ePlain \u003c\/i\u003eis a quiet memoir, it’s not a slow read. Mary Alice uses humor, yearnings, and curiosity to build dramatic tension within the mundane experiences of farm life. . . . The care she uses to develop this world in early chapters gave me a deep appreciation for the culture in which she grew up and deep empathy for the longings she faced within this world that served her yet didn’t fully see her. . . . Not all rebellions need to be loud and in your face. Sometimes the quieter ones have the greatest power.”—Lisa Ellison, \u003ci\u003eHippocampus Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e “[A] powerful memoir. . . . Very highly recommended.”—\u003ci\u003eMidwest Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003ci\u003ePlain \u003c\/i\u003etells the story of Mary Alice Hostetter’s journey to define an authentic self amid a rigid religious upbringing in a Mennonite farm family. Although endowed with a personality “prone toward questioning and challenging,” the young Mary Alice at first wants nothing more than to be a good girl, to do her share, and—alongside her eleven siblings—to work her family’s Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, farm. She feels fortunate to have been born into a religion where, as the familiar hymn states, she is “safe in the arms of Jesus.” As an adolescent, that keen desire for belonging becomes focused on her worldly peers, even though she knows that Mennonites consider themselves a people apart. Eventually she leaves behind the fields and fences of her youth, thinking she will finally be able to grow beyond the prohibitions of her church. Discovering and accepting her sexuality, she once again finds herself apart, on the outside of family, community, and societal norms.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This quietly powerful memoir of longing and acceptance casts a humanizing eye on a little-understood American religious tradition and a woman’s striving to grow within and beyond it.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePrologue\u003cbr\u003e The Girl at the Market\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part One\u003cbr\u003e Hot Lard\u003cbr\u003e Class Pictures\u003cbr\u003e Once Upon a Time\u003cbr\u003e Making Soup\u003cbr\u003e Yearnings\u003cbr\u003e Wrestling with Peace\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part Two\u003cbr\u003e Simple Pleasure\u003cbr\u003e Billy Graham’\u003cbr\u003es Necktie\u003cbr\u003e Cleansed at Crystal Flow\u003cbr\u003e On Foot-Washing Sunday\u003cbr\u003e One of the Plain Girls\u003cbr\u003e Considering Lilies of the Field\u003cbr\u003e It’\u003cbr\u003es Only Fair\u003cbr\u003e Leaving Home\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Part Three\u003cbr\u003e Making It to the Main Line\u003cbr\u003e Among the Right People\u003cbr\u003e Where Do I Fit?\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eZeit und Raum\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Coming-Out Letters\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Epilogue\u003cbr\u003e Elegy to the Farm Where I Grew Up\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"University of Wisconsin Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52530905284888,"sku":"9780299340445","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/plain-a-memoir-of-mennonite-girlhood-paperback-softback-9780299340445","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}