Fannie Erb is still in her rumspringa years, when young people experience the world before taking vows to the faith. She doesn't mean any harm... her mother wants to send Fannie to visit relatives in Florida, but the lively twenty- two year old would rather stay with her horses and riding club for summer. Her older sister has just got engaged, and Fannie realises that if she was being courted, Mamm would not send her away. Maybe her friend and neighbour Noah Bowman would help.

Fannie is certainly unusual and horse mad. She wears jeans under her dress. I recommend this tale to any horse lover anywhere. Fannie wants to promote the Haflinger breed, a European light draught horse. Her own family raises Standardbreds for buggies, but her English friend Connie Stroud breeds Haflingers. Fannie has come up with the idea of a display team to ride at shows. Noah is pretty sure she would not be allowed to do this... but Fannie, who is shown following Monty Roberts' methods, works on the principle that if you don't ask, you won't get told no.

Noah is also in rumspringa and wears jeans and a baseball cap as he shoes horses or plays ball. He is sure that he'll take the vows, in time. Fannie is a good friend but not wife material; apart from her madcap schemes, she has a temper. Still, he sympathises with her wish not to leave her horses. He won't pretend he wants to marry the girl, but walking her home from Sunday service wouldn't hurt anyone. And it would free him from his own mother's plans to introduce him to all the eligible daughters in the county. He'd much rather not let down his baseball team.

So begins an entertaining tale with a wide variety of characters living in Bowman's Crossing, each with their own motivations. All kinds of reasons arise why this situation won't work, including the two young people's loves of different team sports, and the bishop's disapproval of unmarried girls riding in public displays. Another way to look at this excellent story is to see that girls are expected to settle down relatively early, since they don't attend college, and both women and men are supposed to hide their lights under bushels. If they refuse they are not considered members of the community. Their only chance for achievement as individuals is early. We're told that young men tend to leave while young women who marry have to give up jobs and help their husbands. THEIR PRETEND AMISH COURTSHIP may be the only way that Fannie and Noah can realise their potential -- and find out who they really love. Patricia Davids has written another packed account of culture contrast and difficult decisions in THEIR PRETEND AMISH COURTSHIP, which is suitable for any age of reader.

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