Heart Mender

Meet Lucy Flaud, an Amish woman living in Lancaster County who is considered past the courting age, in Beverly Lewis' newest novel, The Atonement. Everyday is filled with volunteering in the Amish community and the English community. Her life is so busy even her twin sisters complain about not getting to spend time together. Filling everyday affords Lucy the luxery of not thinking about her past so she believes. Her father is concerned that after three years their relationship is still strained. He decides to attend a bereavement support group thinking it may help. There he meets a young English man who would like to learn more about living off the grid. Mr. Flaud invites him to his farm but what he doesn't count on is the friendship that developes between him and Lucy. This is a wonderful story about forgiving ourselves and grace. We can not earn grace by working, it's a gift. Follow along with Lucy and her dad as they share their story and learn how God is in the business of being a heart mender. I received this book free to review for Bethany House publishers.

Finding Hope During the Depression

Olivai Newport's book, Hope in the Land, is a snapshot during the Depression Era of Lancaster County, PA. of two families, the Grabills (Amish) and the Swains (Englishers). Henry Edison is working for the government to complete a study on self-sufficiency of the Amish and the Non-Amish Farm Households. His first household is the Grabills who extend to him hospitality by allowing him to stay on their farm during the period of his research. During his stay he learns more than expected about the Amish and their neighbors and how they manage during this era of economic downturn. The reader also meets Polly Grabill who feels out of place among her family, her talents do not lie in baking, cooking, tending chickens or gardening. Instead, her talent is being able to calculate facts and fingures and having a keen memory which she feels is not useful for the farming life. But Polly learns her gift is useful. There is also some rivalry among Mrs. Grabill and Mrs. Swain that comes to light during the course of the story. How each will respond is a choice that must be made. Will that choice bring them together or tear them further apart? This story is based on the fact that an actual study was done during this time period examining the households of Amish and Non-Amish. A slow, thoughtful read that makes the reader feel as though he/she are part of the storyline. I received this book free to review for BarBour Publishing.

Offer Mercy

Living during the American Depression era of the 1930s was not easy. Particularly for Neva Shilling, who along with her husband, Warren, runs Shilling Mercantile and cares for their two children. But all is not as it seems in Kim Vogel Sawyer's newest release Room for Hope. Neva, along with her two children, anxiously await the return of her husband and father from one of his monthly trips selling merchandise throughout the land. When they hear the sound of a wagon pulling into the yard they believe it to be Warren's arrival. Instead, it is the arrival of a neighboring town's deputy with three children and some furniture. Three children sent to live with "Aunt Neva" upon the passing of their mother and father, Violet and Warren Shilling. Neva is shocked, humilated, confused and hurt by what her husband has done. Neva, once an orphan herself, decides to keep the three children. She tries to keep the truth a secret from her children and the townspeople. However, living a lie is not easy. Her only friends are the deputy who begins to put the story together and along the way finds his way back to God and her neighbor, Randall, who would like to buy her out so he can expand his business but finds something worth a whole lot more. Here is a story of grace and mercy, of forgiving and being forgiven, of the prodigal son, and redeeming love. A moving story on so many levels. I think it would make a great movie! I received this book for free from WaterBrook to review and give an honest opinion.