Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman who questioned the strict rules of her upbringing and even her own identity, has been shunned from her Amish community. Katie--now known as Katherine Mayfield--sets out to find her birth mother, and a life, she has never known. Her birth mother is seriously ill and Katie must struggle to find her, and prove her own identity, before it's too late. But in the world of electric lights, telephones, and fancy things, Katie stumbles into a web of greed and betrayal where the garb of the Amish is misused to disguise an evil conspiracy. Meanwhile, unknown to Katherine, her long-lost love, Daniel, has returned to the Amish community to find her. Can they ever be together again?
I read the first book in this series, The Shunning, over a year ago and as a result of this had forgotten a lot of the details. I've also read several other Amish-themed books between then and now and have established my views on who the best authors are in this genre and which series is my favourite. Unfortunately, this book isn't among them. As much as I enjoyed the first book and all of its drama and angst, this one just seemed unnecessarily over-dramatic and cliched. Although I wanted to read about Katie meeting her birth-mother and being reunited with her lost love, I didn't feel so connected to her and there were several passages devoted to the points of view of the servants in her birth-mother's house - many of whom were, bizarrely, English. Was it typical to have English servants in an NY home in 1997? Particularly ones who appeared to have stepped out of an Agatha Christie novel? I did enjoy reading about the "imposter" and wondering whether Katie would ever get to meet Lydia face-to-face (although considering the predictability of this novel, it was rather obvious that this would eventually happen) but I felt that this series lost its charm once it was no longer based in Hickory Hollow. I tend to prefer the Amish novels that focus on people who embrace their beliefs, rather than those who escape the lifestyle. I will read the last book in the trilogy as I checked it out of the library last week, but I definitely prefer Lewis's Abram's Daughters series to this one. But to give the author credit, this trilogy was her first and it's obvious that her writing has grown immensely since this was published. 6/10
Hi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteRead the shunning but not this one. I've recently read 'The redemption of Sarah Cain' by the same author, another amish novel.It was really good, given it to your Mum atm. You can read it too if you like.
Hi Lynne,
ReplyDeleteI actually have "The Redemption of Sarah Cain" at home too - we seem to buy a lot of the same books! I've not read it yet - what did you think of it?
You're very welcome to borrow "The Confession" if you like. I have a few more Amish books on my shelves which you can have a look at next time you're over - they're a lovely, refreshing and inspiring break from the real world!
xx
I really like the Sarah Cain book. Think its also been made into a film?
ReplyDeleteI might borrow 'The Confession' sometime too. The Amish books are such a change from our fast pace of life. Did you watch the Amish teenager programme on recently?
Yeah, I think the film is called "Saving Sarah Cain." I've seen it on christianbook.com but I don't know if it would be available on Region 2.
ReplyDeleteThey really are a change from our way of life. I always get an urge to bake or go and look out my window at the landscape to appreciate it after reading an Amish book. They make me appreciate the smaller things in life.
I didn't watch the TV show recently - was it any good? I a few of my friends watched it and said it was pretty weird. I have seen a really good BBC documentary called "Trouble in Amish Paradise" - the whole thing is on YouTube, I'd definitely recommend it.