The ways of the Amish have always fascinated me, and I picked up this book by Beverly Lewis with eagerness to learn more. It did not disappoint me.
Our main character for this novel is Katie, the only girl in a houseful of brothers. She has been raised Amish and knows that living the Amish way is expected of her, but she can’t stop wanting more. She loves color, she loves music, and she has a hard time restricting herself to those colors and that music which has been approved for her way of life. She finds herself singing and wanting to be pretty. She knows she is sinning, and she doesn’t want to be disobedient, but the urge is too strong for her to overcome.
But she has to overcome it. She is engaged to the bishop, a good man who will make her a fine husband. A widower, he has small children and she already loves them. She knows she will make them a good mother, but she doesn’t know how to be a wife to this man who is so firm in his beliefs. She tells him of her desire to sing, and he chastises her, but gently, and with love. She doesn’t feel she deserves either.
How can she tell him that her love of music comes from the relationship she shared with another young man in their community, one who died at sea? Together they spent hours composing music, not caring about the consequences, only knowing that it was beautiful and they both craved it. With him gone, her hopes for the future died too, but the music did not.
When time comes for the wedding, Katie can’t go through with it, and runs away. She brings shame on her family and on her fiancé, and she feels sorrow for that, but she can’t live the kind of life that a bishop’s wife should. She tries to explain, but it is too late: she is to be shunned.
This means that she will still live in her home and do her chores, but no one is to speak to her, ever again. She must eat at a different table and in all ways be separate from those around her. She knows she deserves to be punished, and tries to submit, but a portion of her brain cries out at the unfairness of it.
At long last, she learns a secret that could explain why she feels the way she does. Learning more about it could break her mother’s heart, but she has to find out for herself.
A heart-touching look into the lives of the Amish, I enjoyed this book thoroughly and will soon be reviewing the sequel.
(This book was published by Bethany House in 1997.)
Amish Recipes: