Tuesday, October 15, 2013

A Christmas Gift for Rose by Tricia Goyer

This is a great little novel for the Christmas season. I usually stay away from the saturated genre of Amish fiction but I'm glad I read this one.

The time period is just after World War II. Since the Amish are pacifist, most of the men drafted ended up spending their time incarcerated. In this novel,
two from the community went to actively serve and have returned. We read of the ramifications of them being outside the peaceful Amish community.

Another aspect of the novel is the importance of being born into the community. I had no idea it was next to impossible, at least at this time, to come into the community from the outside and “become” Amish. This comes to the forefront when a teen finds out she was not born into her Amish family but was, in fact, taken in when her Englisch family abandoned her and moved away. She struggles with who she is. “The Amish heritage was one you were born into. That was that.”

This is a fine novella about finding one's own identity within the Amish community. It is also a novel about trust when circumstances are not what they had appeared. It is also a good exploration of the Amish community and the concept of war. One of the men returning from war had enlisted – had not been drafted. Even though he had been a medic and not fired any shots at the enemy, the Amish community frowned on his actions. On the other side of the issue were the Englisch and their resentment toward the Amish. The Englisch sons were dying at war while the Amish sons were safe.

This novel was inspired by a real story of sacrificial love and is a perfect one to read for the Christmas holiday season.

I am taking part of a blog tour of this book and you can read other reviews here.

Tricia Goyer is the author of over thirty five books. She has written over 500 articles for national publications and blogs. She is the host of Living Inspired, a weekly radio show. She and her husband live in Little Rock, Arkansas and have six children. You can find out more at www.TriciaGoyer.com.

Zondervan, 192 pages. 
Please visit your local Christian bookstore to purchase this book.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.

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