An Amish Gathering: Life in Lancaster County
by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, and Barbara Cameron
Thomas Nelson 2009
Three stories comprise the action in this book. Each has as a central character a young woman of the Old Order Amish who is facing decisions about her life direction and finding (or not) a life partner. Each woman also must face questions of faith, and of grieving. Though they take place in the same community, they are sepate novellas, with each character showing up briefly in the others’ tales.
Leah is under pressure to ramp up her housekeeping and cooking skills, work that is expected of Amish women. She’s not exactly rebellious about that, she’s just not especially interested in it, and would rather write stories. As she struggles with these ideas, several people come into her life who help things turn in another direction, both for Leah and her parents. It’s not a predictable turn at all, however.
Amanda is delighted that her childhood friend Josiah has come back to town, although disconcerted to find that he’s back only to fix up his old family homestead and sell it.. Amanda is good at fixing things up, though -- as the eldest daughter of a large family, she’s had to be -- so she jumps in to help him, and tries to fix him up a bit along the way. That does not go the way she’s planned, as both she and Josiah learn lessons about friendship and family.
Rebecca is slowly coming to terms with the death of her twin sister five years before -- a death by drowning in a skating accident on a frozen lake, which Rebecca witnessed. So did Ben, a friend who was at that time just beginning to look at Rebecaa as more than a friend. They remained friends over the years, but as they begin to rekindle their romance, grief and fear are still things they find they must be honest with each other about before they are able to go forward.
Each of the main characters, and the secondary ones, too, is believable and individual. The commonalities and differences of how they think about and talk about their faith and their way of life are natural and believable too. With that, these three stories give insight into a world too often defined by the sight of an old buggy driving down a Pennsylvania road..
Kerry Dexter is the Music Editor for Wandering Educators.
Kerry's credits include CMT, the folk music magazine Dirty Linen, Songwriter’s Market, and The Encyclopedia of Ireland and the Americas. She also writes about the arts and creative practice at http://www.musicroad.blogspot.com Music Road. You may reach her at music at wanderingeducators dot com