The Heritage of Lancaster County series

The Heritage of Lancaster County series, by Beverly Lewis

These three books (The Shunning, The Confession, and The Reckoning) tell the tale of a young Amish woman who struggles with being Amish.  Katie's discovery that she was adopted from an "English" (non-Amish) teenage mother only fuels her desire to leave the Amish world behind.  The close-knit quality of the Amish community is a struggle for her to leave, but by the end of the first book, she has left Pennsylvania a shunned woman and is in search of her birth mother.  The second book deals with Katie's (now called Katherine) dying birth-mother and the complexities of being thrown suddenly into another culture, one that appears less honest and forgiving than the one she came from.  This book also introduces the aspect of star-crossed romance, as a former love long thought to be dead attempts to find "his Katie girl" again.  In the third book, Katherine, now a wealthy heiress, returns to Pennsylvania in search of answers to spiritual questions she had had since before Daniel was thought to have died.  Her birth mother's testimony and death had fueled those questions, and the third book deals a lot with Katie's spiritual journey more than her physical journey to find her mother.

The author of this book series is a Christian and the book series is published by a Christian publishing company, so do not expect the main character's spiritual journey to end in any way other than with Christian results.  That being said, the books weave common questions that many people have into the plot line, and are often answered by wise characters that come in and out of Katie's life.  It is quite refreshing to read and experience Christian philosophy in a novel form rather than the sometimes-dry books about Christian theory and apologetics.

One thing that struck me, and perhaps slightly confused me, is that the author's note states that she grew up in Amish country and consulted many Amish for details about Amish life and religious philosophies, and she is indebted to them for their help on the project.  Yet from reading the book, I got the impression that she believes, or at least the character of Katie believes, that the Amish are not "saved" Christians.  This would imply that while Amish believe non-Amish have no hope of reaching heaven, Christians believe the same about the Amish.  If this is the case, it is curious to me that the author's Amish friends would be willing to help her on a book project that seems to derail their religious beliefs.  Perhaps I am over-thinking or misinterpreting the book, but that was one of the first points that came to mind when a friend brought up the topic of the Amish.

One other thing I had a minor issue with is that the details that go into inheriting a wealthy estate in upstate New York seem to have been unrealistically glossed over with, "the lawyer is handling everything."  But I admit those details were not pertinent to the storyline, and at this point I am just being nit-picky.

Overall, this book is a very good read.  Although some men might enjoy it, in a movie format it would probably be considered a chick-flick.  I'd recommend it to everyone, but most men probably would not take my suggestion.  I'd also recommend this book to anyone interested in Amish culture, particularly the details of Amish shunnings, since this book explores the technical and also emotional aspects of a shunning.