An Amish Gathering


Although I wrote exemplary book reports in school, I am a lousy book reviewer. I find that I only explain the plots and never get into character analysis, setting, subplots or any of that so I will make this brief.

I just finished "An Amish Gathering -- Life in Lancaster County" by Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller and Barbara Cameron. It is actually a compilation of three novellas depicting the life of different families in the same area. Each story contains elements of loss, love, redemption and, ultimately, a happy ending.

I really enjoy reading the Amish novels and I am not sure why. I think I like them because so many of them take place in Pennsylvania and I identify with PA because of my family who were decidedly NOT Amish. In any event, these novellas seem to be a bit edgier than most of the others I have read. One deals with anger and abuse, one deals with friendships outside the community and the desire to have a career other than the traditional Amish wife and one deals with mental health issues with a bit of pride and jealousy thrown it. These novellas actually seems more real than what I have read in these types of books before -- there is a real human element in them.

I enjoyed this collection and read it very quickly, for me. I will probably seek out more works of the authors.