Third of a series!
Beverly Lewis - The Longing: A Novel.
The Courtship of Nellie Fisher Book 3
All I can say - INTENSE!
Once I picked this one up, I couldn't put it down!
I love how Beverly Lewis has used historical events and her own understanding of her heritage to create a spellbinding community in Lancaster County. (Who's to say these events didn't happen? Something powerful happened in the year of 1966 and the changes still resonates through the ages.)
The prologue picks up in the Spring of 1967, a mere six weeks after Nellie broke off her courtship with Caleb. The events depicted encompass all of Spring, highlight important events (local and community, not state or nation), throughout summer, jumps forward to the end of winter next year in the epilogue. Autumn of 1967 is almost forgotten.
As I was reading this story, I was reminded of Ecclesiastics 3, in that there is 'A Time To Be Silent, and a Time To Speak Up'.
Humans we are, we often get the two confused, and for the wrong reasons.
Miss Fisher has moved on from her love of Caleb Yoder, but Nellie Mae Fisher longs for a husband (there was only one man for her, but she won't take him if he can't grasp her faith and won't accept the fact that she has changed). While she waits and ponders, the lives of family, friends, relatives, and neighbors change.
One of these changes includes: a cousin and her neighbors heard about the friend who recently returned her twins to their birth family. Three separate women have decided to give their unborn child to this barren mother - Nellie holds back the news, because she thinks it is too soon, (silence, because telling would hurt - especially if this adoption doesn't go through).
Another trial of life: sister Rhonda is moving out of their brother's James place - seeking companionship outside the faith, outside the community, - because 'it is unreasonable to be expected to go to church every Lords Day when much needed money could be made' - Rhonda has bills to pay, and wants to be just like her Englisher neighbors, who have privacy, freedom, and are not bogged down by religious rules and religious regulations. Rhonda has seen the changes in her family - her parents, her younger sisters, her brothers - yet is still seeking satisfaction from things and material goods.
Mostly though, she wants an ideal husband - and none of the local boys expressed an interest in her. Marriage and a large family are what Rhonda's after.
Caleb Yoder, kicked out of his father's house (but not disowned like his sister), finds his life turned upside down when his father suffers a terrible accident.
No one is sure if his father will survive - or even if he does live, if he will walk again and retake the position of head of house, ruler of the family.
Who will get the farm when Mister Yoder is buried? Tradition states the land is to go to the youngest son, but Caleb has disappointed his dad, and one of his older unmarried brothers is next in line for the inheritance.
I could go on and on, but you'll just have to read this book for yourself.
The Courtship of Nellie Fisher Book 3
All I can say - INTENSE!
Once I picked this one up, I couldn't put it down!
I love how Beverly Lewis has used historical events and her own understanding of her heritage to create a spellbinding community in Lancaster County. (Who's to say these events didn't happen? Something powerful happened in the year of 1966 and the changes still resonates through the ages.)
The prologue picks up in the Spring of 1967, a mere six weeks after Nellie broke off her courtship with Caleb. The events depicted encompass all of Spring, highlight important events (local and community, not state or nation), throughout summer, jumps forward to the end of winter next year in the epilogue. Autumn of 1967 is almost forgotten.
As I was reading this story, I was reminded of Ecclesiastics 3, in that there is 'A Time To Be Silent, and a Time To Speak Up'.
Humans we are, we often get the two confused, and for the wrong reasons.
Miss Fisher has moved on from her love of Caleb Yoder, but Nellie Mae Fisher longs for a husband (there was only one man for her, but she won't take him if he can't grasp her faith and won't accept the fact that she has changed). While she waits and ponders, the lives of family, friends, relatives, and neighbors change.
One of these changes includes: a cousin and her neighbors heard about the friend who recently returned her twins to their birth family. Three separate women have decided to give their unborn child to this barren mother - Nellie holds back the news, because she thinks it is too soon, (silence, because telling would hurt - especially if this adoption doesn't go through).
Another trial of life: sister Rhonda is moving out of their brother's James place - seeking companionship outside the faith, outside the community, - because 'it is unreasonable to be expected to go to church every Lords Day when much needed money could be made' - Rhonda has bills to pay, and wants to be just like her Englisher neighbors, who have privacy, freedom, and are not bogged down by religious rules and religious regulations. Rhonda has seen the changes in her family - her parents, her younger sisters, her brothers - yet is still seeking satisfaction from things and material goods.
Mostly though, she wants an ideal husband - and none of the local boys expressed an interest in her. Marriage and a large family are what Rhonda's after.
Caleb Yoder, kicked out of his father's house (but not disowned like his sister), finds his life turned upside down when his father suffers a terrible accident.
No one is sure if his father will survive - or even if he does live, if he will walk again and retake the position of head of house, ruler of the family.
Who will get the farm when Mister Yoder is buried? Tradition states the land is to go to the youngest son, but Caleb has disappointed his dad, and one of his older unmarried brothers is next in line for the inheritance.
I could go on and on, but you'll just have to read this book for yourself.