Esther Royer Ayers's Books

Girls in the Cult

A Journey into Self Discovery

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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Girls in the Cult

A Journey into Self Discovery

By: Esther Royer Ayers

Girls in the Cult is a journey into understanding the Old Order Mennonite religion. The book provides answers for "free thinkers" who ask: Why would people of a religion systematically program their children to fear the outside world? Why would the people of a religion limit a child's education to eighth grade? Why would people of a religion make their members live in the past? What could prominent Dr. Erik Erikson and his "Eight Stages in Life" say about the people of my childhood religion? How does the Amish in the City television show fit into this book? Girls in the Cult is a first-hand account of my Old Order Mennonite childhood. As a little girl, I asked my mother who I was. Her reply that we were just pilgrims passing through this world on our way to our heavenly home didn't satisfy me. Years later I searched to learn the answer, which comprises this book. My surprising self-discovery is told with clarity, honesty, and in good old-fashioned storytelling.

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Page Count

183

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1483630307

ISBN 13

9781483630304

Flights of the Herons

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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Flights of the Herons

By: Esther Royer Ayers

Far from being a treatise on birds, “Flights of the Herons” is about people. Emily Dickinson wrote: "Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul." What else but hope drives the suffering to continue searching for that brightly-lit doorway that leads to freedom from oppression? "Flights of the Herons" binds three members of the Reyher family together in their flights from oppression in a seamless narrative that will keep you spellbound until the very end. Frank, a professional man living in Youngstown, Ohio, and grieving over the death of his wife, takes up genealogy. He uncovers fascinating facts regarding his REYHER ancestral history, (Reyher means heron in German) and plans a trip to Germany with his mother to obtain further information. Two weeks before their departure, Frank learns that a possible relative, Katie, whom he has not heard of before, has won a literary award. On the assumption they are related, he decides to write her to suggest collaboration on a genealogy-inspired book that would tell the captivating story of their common great-great-grandfather, Johann Gotthard Reyher, who in 1819 fled the oppression of mandatory mercenary servitude in the German Kingdom of Wuerttemberg to emigrate to the United States. Frank’s mother cautions this Katie he seeks is from an Old Order Mennonite family. Since that religion prohibits school attendance beyond the eighth grade, she could not possibly have won a literary award. Frank perseveres and writes the letter. Katie, married, is an attractive housewife who lives in Arkansas, and is painfully embarrassed over a limp, {a metaphor for women who suffer the battering effects of emotional abuse}, she acquired in an accident a couple of years earlier. Her husband Ken, an ambitious advertising executive, is extremely controlling and subjects Katie to disastrous emotional and verbal abuse. Although terrified when first receiving Frank ́s letter, Katie finds solace within his words. Through sneaky emails, she converses with Frank and eventually agrees to a clandestine meeting at her childhood homestead, which is the homestead Johann Godhard Reyher purchased when first coming to America. The story, a fiction, nevertheless contains true genealogy information on the Hans Gotthard Reyher family, and dates back to even a much earlier ancestor, Hans Reyher, who migrated to Wuerttemberg from Switzerland after the Thirty Years’ War.

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Page Count

214

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1462809839

ISBN 13

9781462809837

THE AMAZON LADIES' CAPER

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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THE AMAZON LADIES' CAPER

By: Esther Royer Ayers

Life can be such a bummer at times. For the sexy Sandy, disgruntled Bonnie, and perpetually pregnant Cathy, what burns them is their husbands’ annual hunting trip. In an effort to forever end these hunts, these three girls plan a secret caper wherein they’ll become Amazon lady warriors and conquer the very town where their husbands’ hunt. The Amazon Ladies’ Caper is a fun-filled fiction adventure with a little fantasy. Although it is humorous and highly entertaining, the book has a serious side as well. Within the pages of this book, we travel with the Amazon ladies from Sacramento, California (their hometown) to Glendive, Montana (where the caper takes place). Along our way, we join Elderhostelers on a dinosaur dig conducted by a Blackfoot Indian paleontologist. We enter the strange and secretive lands of Hutterites where we attempt a rescue. We even help a frustrated psychologist-author complete his book. Best of all, the Amazon ladies forever end their husbands’ annual hunting trip. Or do they? Join us on this most fantastic trip—which is guaranteed to be a “no bummer.”

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Page Count

265

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1493100491

ISBN 13

9781493100491

Rolling Down Black Stockings

A Passage Out of the Old Order Mennonite Religion

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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Rolling Down Black Stockings

A Passage Out of the Old Order Mennonite Religion

By: Esther Royer Ayers

Rolling Down Black Stockings is a personal recollection of Esther Royer Ayers's youth spent in a highly restrictive and confined religious community. Her story is as much a search for identity and a longing for a mother's love as it is a tale about a totalitarian culture that led to her departure from the Old Order Mennonite religion. This poignant story is told in three books: book 1 describes her youth in a farm community on the outskirts of Columbiana, Ohio; book 2 follows the struggles of Ayers as she tries to fit in with another culture after leaving the church when her family moves to Akron, Ohio; and book 3 discusses the history and cultural dynamics of the religion. Ayers recounts how the Old Order Mennonite Church came into existence. Her personal account begins when she was eight years old, watching as her mother took care of her sick father. With intel-ligence and insight, Ayers describes how her family coped with the burden of not having enough income, which meant that the children were expected to work instead of getting an education. her Mennonite community, Ayers relates her difficulties trying to fit in at the public school and how she and her siblings were required to fall classes so that they would be expelled. It concludes with reflections on what all this meant to her. A rare and moving memoir, Rolling Down Black Stockings is also a valuable piece of social history that will appeal to historians as well as those interested in separatist communities and women's studies.

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Page Count

198

Publisher

Kent State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0873388283

ISBN 13

9780873388283

Rolling Down Black Stockings

A Passage Out of the Old Order Mennonite Religion

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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Rolling Down Black Stockings

A Passage Out of the Old Order Mennonite Religion

By: Esther Royer Ayers

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

198

Publisher

Kent State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0873388283

ISBN 13

9780873388283

Book's by Esther Royer Ayers

Girls in the Cult

Girls in the Cult

Flights of the Herons

Flights of the Herons

THE AMAZON LADIES' CAPER

THE AMAZON LADIES' CAPER

Rolling Down Black Stockings

Rolling Down Black Stockings

Rolling Down Black Stockings

Rolling Down Black Stockings

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