Revell (January 1, 2010)
I have enjoyed Amish novels since I discovered Beverly Lewis over a decade ago. I’ve found some authors who I’ll continue to read because I was so impressed by their books and others that I could take or leave along the way. This is the first Amish Fiction I’ve read by this author but she also has two WWII novels that I enjoyed reading a while back so when I saw an author whose name I knew with a genre I love to read by a publisher whose choice of works I’ve come to trust, I had to check it out. I was quite impressed at the difference it makes when a good author goes the extra mile to improve their writing and transition to a publisher who works with them to produce the best possible product.
While I did enjoy Fisher’s early work I can see a passion for quality and accuracy in this book that was not present in her earlier novels. She continues a penchant for detail that enriches the story but the flow of the language and plot has increased immensely between those novels and this. her style has also progressed to make this a book I had difficulty setting down before the last page was turned.
Carrie Weaver has lived a relatively quiet childhood amongst the Amish community where she was born. Although she and her young brother are brought into their stepmother’s family after his birth and the loss of their mother, they never quite felt like they belonged. When their father is also taken from them suddenly, Carrie’s first priority is to find a home for her and Andy. There are Amish from another community who knew her father in his early years and have returned to Lancaster County to start an apple orchard. Daniel becomes Carrie’s ticket to get Andy out of their stepmother’s home. Unfortunately things are set to change yet again for them all and Carrie is once again left with no one but Andy and her husband’s Grandmother until Daniel’s cousin appears on her doorstep. Abel however is not Old Order Amish and while Carrie has come to terms with her faith and the Amish rules when she chose not to marry her first love, Solomon Riehl because it would mean leaving the support of their community behind, Abel has been living among the Englischers so long even he questions whether he could commit to the Amish ordnung. Will the parity of their environments prove impossible to bridge or will they find new love that isn’t dependent on their communities to bloom? (ISBN#9780800733858, 308pp, $14.99)
Codicil:
Check out the author’s site. Stop by to pick up your own copy and find out more about this book, or click the book cover above. Thanks to the publisher who provided this book for review purposes.
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