Genres: Amish & Mennonite
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book piqued my interest as it was set into an era that I honestly know very little about. Having read this book now I’m not sure that it appeals to me.
From watching movies I know that people may have talked this way but I felt like I was watching an episode of Scooby Doo and I just had a hard time taking it seriously.
I think I also felt that everything was just so over-the-top and hard to believe at times. For example, Betsie is working for this family in the harness shop but it seems she hardly ever actually worked there. Why didn’t the just hire her as the housekeeper because she didn’t do much else!
I think I’m just not down with my groovy self because I just couldn’t jive with it. The storyline itself was pretty good I just think the era was not well suited for me!
Betsie Troyer’s parents have abandoned the Amish faith (which she is trying to keep a secret from her community) and have left their family to go live among the English.
Betsie takes a job with another English family in their harness shop until her cousin returns from serving out his time as he was drafted. The family she is working for is a family on the brink of destruction. Between the overbearing dad and the mom that had her head in the clouds—I almost felt depressed to read at times.
The book is obviously part one of a series so it concludes without resolving any issues so I’m left with just a bit of frustration—mostly because aside from the salvation plan the entire set of characters have no other glimmers of hope.
I truly think that others would probably “dig” this book but I’ve just surmised that the seventies is an era that doesn’t hold much interest for me. I guess you just had to be there because to me that type of language just sounds comical. Chalk it up to learning that you will not be drawn to all era settings in historical fiction!
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Stephanie Reed lives on the outskirts of Plain City, Ohio, site of a once-thriving Amish community. She gleans ideas for her novels from signs glimpsed along the byways of Ohio, as she did for her previous books, “Across the Wide River” and “The Light Across the River.”
I received this book free from the publisher through a fantastic program called Litfuse Publicity. I was not required to write a positive review. The thoughts and opinions I have expressed are my own. To view other reviews and learn more about this tour please visit the Litfuse group by clicking here
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