The book is set amongst the Amish community in the United States. The main character is Hannah, whom we first meet as a teenage girl of about seventeen. This is the period of life amongst the Amish when young people are given a lot of freedom as they explore ‘Englisch’ (non-Amish) life and culture. This helps them to decide whether or not they want to continue long-term in the Amish community.
Hannah doesn’t really like staying out late or mixing with ‘Englisch’ young men, but her younger sister Deborah is a bit wilder, and likes to meet her boyfriend Peter dressed in non-Amish clothes, at local cafes or the cinema. She can’t go alone, so often persuades Hannah to go with her. On one of these outings, Hannah discovers that her young man Christian has been seeing another girl, someone outside the Amish community. Their good friend Samuel is aware of this and is in love with Hannah too, so is torn about what to do. He doesn’t want Hannah to be hurt, but doesn’t want to cause conflict with his friend either.
Hannah and Christian argue, and she walks off alone… then the plot becomes a bit confusing as we see Samuel, a few days later, suddenly leaving the community and going to live with a relative in another State. He quickly settles down with a different girl, although there are hints that he told Hannah how he felt about her. But he doesn’t tell her - or anyone - why he is leaving, and she feels quite hurt.
Then the story fast forwards two or three years. Christian and Hannah are married, but having trouble conceiving a baby….
It only gradually becomes apparent that Hannah is harbouring a secret. Even with a few hints, I didn’t guess the full extent of it until it is revealed in rather a shocking scene, when Christian discovers it - and this leads to a lot of tension and some very heated arguments.
The ending chapters are a bit unpleasant with more than one shock, alongside threads of ongoing bitterness and anger, although one tragic event has a positive outcome. There’s a strong faith element to the book, inevitably perhaps; but it’s not just related to Amish culture and practice. Indeed, there’s very little about the Amish lifestyle, other than as it relates to teenagers. There are some quite clear messages about salvation, and faith in God, as well as the importance of forgiveness, of oneself as well as of others.
A significant contemporary ethical issue comes into focus for the later chapters. This is the main theme of the book, and is strong enough to be considered an agenda, although it’s dealt with sensitively. It’s not judgemental, but inevitably one-sided as the Amish (and general Christian) viewpoint is expressed through the characters concerned.
Characterisation of the main characters is fairly good, although I found it rather hard to believe in Hannah; she is so traditional, even naive at first, with strong principles, that her ‘secret’ seems unlikely. But perhaps she has to be this way, so it’s a surprise to the reader when revealed, and demonstrates how even the most faithful, religiously minded people can fall.
The minor characters are somewhat flat, and I didn’t always remember who was whom, but that wasn’t really a problem. The background appears to be authentic, although to my mind there are too many Amish words in Italics, mixed in with regular English. Perhaps that’s the way they speak, but it’s not particularly easy to read. Some of the conversations, even without Amish words, seem stilted, and in some cases unnecessary.
Still, overall it made a good light read. The ending is encouraging and positive. The book was free for my Kindle, and apparently there are others in the series; I don’t know if they are about the same characters, and I don’t feel any particularly inclination to read them. But on the whole I liked it.
Review copyright 2018 Sue's Book Reviews
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