But executives at , the publishing branch of Harrisonburg-based Mennomedia, believe they’ve tapped into the next genre in Anabaptist literature: the memoir.

They’ve been on a mission to publish such novels, which is why they backed books such as Harrisonburg actor ‘ book, 2012 title “Laughter Is Sacred Space,” and Friendly City-based author ‘s 2013 memoir, titled “Blush,” last year. And that’s why the publisher has picked up ‘s latest book, “Bonnet Strings: An Amish Woman’s Ties to Two Worlds.”

“I’m thinking that the next phase or the next genre might be those of us who have lived the life or are living the life of Amish or Mennonite writing our own story,” Furlong said.

“There’s been so much out there about the Amish that’s just so false. I’m thinking it’s time for the true stories to come out.”

Saloma’s Story

Furlong, 56, left the security of her Amish community in Ohio at the age of 20. She headed for Burlington, a city she had only been introduced to in her history books, and secured her dream job as a waitress at a Pizza Hut.

“The first book [`Why I Left the Amish’] basically takes the reader to the point where I left the Amish for the first time,” Furlong explained. ” `Bonnet Strings’ picks up pretty much where that one left off.”

While she was in Burlington, Furlong made plans to enroll in college courses and met David, the man she would later marry, whom she began dating in the winter of 1978.

But it wasn’t long before a vanload of her family and friends showed up unannounced at her front door, with full intent of returning her to the Amish community.

“I basically did not want to find out what would happen if I resisted,” she said, explaining that she then returned to her hometown for almost three years before she left again.

“In the meantime, David did not give up wanting to communicate with me,” she added.

When she did leave the community again, it was David who picked her up in his truck. A year and a half later, the two married.

“The book is basically a story about being torn between my two worlds, but it contains a love story, as well,” Furlong said. “It basically leaves off when David and I got married.”

David wrote three of the book’s chapters and joins his wife during her presentations of the novel. The couple will return to 91短视频 to discuss the book March 25; Furlong first came to the university to discuss “Why I Left The Amish” in March 2013.

This year, the event will take place at 4 p.m. in the Strite conference room, 105, in the Campus Center at 91短视频. , another author who has been published by Herald Press, will introduce Furlong.

A Speedy Process

Amy Gingerich, editorial director for Herald Press, was so convinced that “Bonnet Strings” would be the perfect installment in the publisher’s string of Anabaptist memoirs that she fast-tracked the process of buying Furlong’s book.

Last July, on a Friday evening, Showalter mentioned to Gingerich that Furlong was planning to self-publish the memoir; by Sunday, Gingerich had set up a time to talk with the now western Massachusetts-based author.

“Typically, we kind of dance around with an offer for a few weeks,” Gingerich explained. “But I was really excited about this book. I said to Saloma. … `I want to get this thing sewed up Monday.’ ”

However, there was a slight complicating factor.

Gingerich was nine months pregnant and expecting her baby that Thursday.

“By Thursday, which was my due date, [Furlong] signed,” Gingerich said, laughing. “I went into labor Thursday night.”

Furlong then wrote the second half of her novel during September.

“I saw a lot of beautiful autumn days go by my window,” she jokes now.

The book was released Feb. 3, the day before a documentary featuring Furlong aired on PBS American Experience, called “The Amish Shunned.” She also had a lead role in a film simply titled “The Amish,” produced by the same company in 2012.

Gingerich explained the new novel’s universal appeal this way: “Whether or not you grew up Amish, I think all of us have to deal with questions of belonging.”

For more information on Furlong and “Bonnet Strings,” visit or .

Courtesy of the Daily News Record, March 22, 2014

So, when she decided to leave her Ohio Amish community at the age of 20, that’s where she headed.

When she got there, she felt like a new person.

“I got my dream job as a waitress at Pizza Hut,” she said in the PBS documentary “The Amish,” from which Furlong showed an excerpt to a crowd of dozens at 91短视频’s Martin Chapel on Thursday evening.

No more invariable black-and-white clothing, mandatory church visits and abuse from her father, whom she described as seeming to be strapped to his rocking chair at times, communicating with someone invisible to the rest of the family.

Her memories of him are dotted with visions of his intense rage.

“When he came after someone, there was no fighting back,” Furlong read from her memoir, “Why I Left the Amish.” “He was physically strong, but when he was in one of his rages, he was as strong as a bull.”

But at 20 years old, Furlong was unfettered: Free to take college courses – whereas before her schooling ended with graduation from the eighth grade – date whomever she wanted and live alone with the previously unrealized calm of privacy.

Her independence was short-lived, however; her mother soon called and said she was coming to get her.

“Something changed in me where I couldn’t say,`No,'” Furlong said. “The Amish life is not about saying `No.'”

So, she returned to the familiar farm life and abusive father.

“It was a very long two years and eight months” before she left again and married her husband, David Furlong, she said.

Thirty years after she made that second move, she hasn’t looked back. Furlong discovered that her mother had finally given in to an intervention from the local social services department. Previously, when Furlong was still living in the Amish community, her mother refused to accept the help that Furlong sought out.

Her father was diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, started taking medication and was never abusive to his family again, she said.

Furlong is still patching up relationships with her siblings, only one of whom will speak to her now – a recent development, she noted.

But she stands by the decision she made decades ago.

“I had to sacrifice community to have my personal freedom,” she said, explaining the list of goals she was able to accomplish after her move out of the Amish community. She married the love of her life, she said, raised two sons, earned a bachelor’s degree from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., and became a published author.

“These things could not have happened if I had stayed in my Amish tradition,” she said. “For me, taking this life path was worth the price I had to pay for it.”

Furlong is currently writing a sequel to her memoir.

Courtesy Daily News Record, Mar. 16, 2013