The title of The Tartan Pimpernel hearkens back to the The Scarlet Pimpernel, the imaginary but legendary rescuer of those unfairly appointed to death during the French Revolution. In this case, however, the rescuer was a very real Scottish pastor in France during World War II.

On the brink of the German invasion of Paris, Donald Caskie, pastor of the Scots Kirk there, led his people in considering Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” and Matthew 24: 6-8: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” He commended them to God and told them good-bye: though he thought perhaps a minister might have met with some respect of enemy soldiers, he had publicly denounced Hitler more than once and knew his record might put him in danger. He decided to go back to Scotland to render service there and “take stock of [his] future.”

He joined the multitude of other refugees fleeing the city on foot, rejoicing whenever he could find a pile of straw to sleep on, a cow to sleep next to for warmth, or a grapevine from which to eat along the way. Days later, nearing exhaustion, receiving timely aid from a couple of good Samaritans, he finally reached the British Consulate only to decide he must stay in France. There was a ship available, but he felt the wounded men needed the space more than he, while his help was needed in his besieged adopted country.

Praying for guidance, he was led in a marvelous way to the abandoned British Seamen’s Mission in Marseilles and told he could aid seamen and civilians, but not soldiers, and to expect surveillance and raids to make sure he was keeping within those parameters. Caskie had a clear conscience about “going underground.” Though being closely watched, somehow he was able to hide and aid soldiers, becoming a major link in their escape route back to England. Food, clothing, false identification, guides, everything needed was marvelously provided time and again. The elaborate details needed to secretly get these men out of the country are amazing, especially in that time without the ease of communication we have these days with cell phones, GPS devices, etc. It is estimated some 2,000 sailors, soldiers, and airmen were aided by him in their escape back to England.

Donald was arrested and eventually sentenced to death, but a German pastor intervened for him. Though nearly starving and in solitary confinement for much of his imprisonment, he felt the interruption in his work, the worry his situation caused his mother, and the inability to minister help to those in prison were his crosses to bear. He remained a prisoner until liberation, when he again began to minister, reopening Scots Kirk, becoming a visiting minister to those in camps, prisons, and elsewhere, and aiding the British with his experience and knowledge of the area and the happenings during the war.

He was urged to write of his war-time experiences and finally did in the mid 1950s, using the book as a fund-raiser to rebuild the church, which had been damaged and decayed. (An interesting side note is that Eric Liddell preached in this church instead of running on Sunday during the Olympics, though a different church than this is actually shown in the film Chariots of Fire.)

Though words like “brave” and “inspiring” describe Caskie in the blurbs on the outside of this republished edition, he wrote the book in an unassuming, matter-of-fact way laced with quiet humor. Some sections are quiet suspenseful, as when a traitor is suspected in the ranks.

This book spoke to me on many levels, a couple of which I elaborated on in an earlier post, especially the quiet heroism and bravery of men and women who weren’t trying to be heroes, but had to stand up and do the right thing, as well as those behind the scenes who aided them.

Though the Lord’s hand is evident throughout, I would recommend the book more from a historical vantage point than a spiritual one, as I would disagree with Caskie on a few points, especially calling a works-based denomination “Christian.” A little odd is his claiming of a Celtic gift of “second sight,” an “uncanny ability to anticipate events.” I don’t know what to make of that, but as the introduction concludes, “The Tartan Pimpernel illustrates the tremendous height to which the human spirit can soar in the horrors of war and is a fitting legacy of a man of outstanding courage and integrity.”

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books host What’s On Your Nightstand? the fourth Tuesday of each month in which we can share about the books we have been reading and/or plan to read. You can learn more about it by clicking the link or the button.

Wow, it’s the fourth Tuesday already?

I didn’t do a nightstand post in December because I had just had a lengthy Fall Into Reading wrap-up post the day before and because we were on an anniversary trip that day. So, if it is ok, I’ll list the books I’ve completed in the last two months:

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, a compilation of 22 Christmas related essays from authors varying from Augustine and Luther to Piper, not reviewed, but highly recommended.

The Heirloom by Colleen L. Reece and Julie Reece-DeMarco, reviewed here.

American Haven by Elisabeth Yates, Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman, and A Vote of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher, all reviewed briefly here.

Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury and Fit to Be Tied is by Robin Lee Hatcher, both reviewed here.

Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, reviewed here.

I’m currently reading The Tartan Pimpernel, which is an autobiography of Donald Caskie, a Scottish pastor in France during WWII who helped establish safe houses and escape routes for Allied soldiers, and Words Unspoken by Elizabeth Musser about…a lot of things actually, but the main story line involves a teen-age girl who feels she caused the accident that killed her mother, and eighteen months later still has panic attacks when she drives. Her father hires a kindly, wise, older man as a driving instructor who tries to help her in various ways but who has other issues in his life as well.

I have so many good books waiting to be read, I’m not sure which to choose next, but among my choices are: The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn, A Touch of Grace by Lauraine Snelling,  Detour, a non-fiction sequel to Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish by Grace H. Kaiser, Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff, Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson, Dr. Sa’eed of Iran: Kurdish Physician to Princes and Peasants Nobles and Nomads by Jay M. Rasooli and Cady H. Allen (which I looked up mainly because a poem from it was read at Dr. John Dreisbach‘s funeral), Interwoven by Russ and Nancy Ebersole, about two missionaries whose mates died and who then found each other, Port of Two Brothers by Paul Schlener, the name of a village along the Amazon in Brazil named for two brother missionaries and their families who worked there, Beyond Prison Walls by Marian Bomm, about her interment in a Japanese prison camp in WWII…and many more. Decisions, decisions!!!

I first became acquainted with Anne of Green Gables through the well-known production that aired on PBS in the mid-80s, and I was enthralled. I had never heard of the books before, though they were hailed as classic children’s literature. My education had been enormously deficient! So I bought and read an eight-book set by Lucy Maud Montgomery containing the six Anne books as well as Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside.

I decided to revisit Anne for the 5 Minutes For Books Classics Bookclub and the L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge hosted by Carrie at Reading to Know.  

If you’re not familiar with Anne, she is an orphan girl who has been passed around to different homes primarily as a “mother’s helper” until she ends up in an orphanage at the age of 12. She’s bright and witty but spends a great majority of her time daydreaming, imagining, and reading, perhaps as a way to escape and survive her circumstances. Unmarried brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert of Prince Edward Island in Canada decide to send for a boy from an orphanage to help around the place as they are getting on in years, but through a miscommunication they receive…Anne. Soft-spoken and tender-hearted Matthew thinks perhaps they can do her some good and should keep her. Practical Marilla disagrees, but when she finds out Anne will be sent as a helper to a cheerless, “fractious” woman with a houseful of children rather than back to the orphanage, she can’t in good conscience hand her over, so she sets about to “raise” Anne properly.

But this description fails to capture the charm of the books and the characters:

Anne, who emphasizes that it is “Anne with an e” because the “e” adds so much character and interest, who is so sensitive about her red hair that she breaks a slate over a boy’s head for teasing her about it and tries to dye it “raven black” only to end up with it green, who longs for “a bosom friend,” who has never tasted ice cream and thrills at the possibility, who aches over beauty, renaming a tree-lined avenue the “White Way of Delight” and renames Barry’s Pond “The Lake of Shining Waters,” who gets into a series of amusing “scrapes, who, though she has “tragical” days in “the depths of despair,” usually finds the bright side of any situation.

No-nonsense Marilla, who has a kind heart and a latent sense of humor despite her strictness and sparseness, who at first is driven to distraction by Anne’s chattering but later grows to like it, who has trouble expressing her feelings.

Matthew, who never went courting because it would have involved having to talk to a woman, who decides to buy Anne a pretty dress for a ball and gets so flustered he buys a garden rake (in the dead of winter) and 20 lbs. of brown sugar before he can work up the nerve to ask for what he wants. The segments where he buys the dress, fashionable with “puffed sleeves” which Marilla thinks are so silly but which Anne has been longing for, and Anne’s running out to the barn to thank him with love and devotion shining from her eyes are some of the sweetest.

Then there is Anne’s “bosom friend” Diana; the mischievous Gilbert Blythe, whom Anne steels herself against because he teased her, but of whom she is ever aware despite her sworn animosity; busybody Rachel Lynde who does have some redeeming features nonetheless; beloved teacher Miss Stacey, who helps her give form and definition and restraint to her imagination in her writing and who nurtures her love of learning.

Though the story is not a “Christian” one per se, it is a God-fearing moral one, and though it is called children’s literature, many adults love it just as well. My reading this time was somewhat overshadowed at first by Carrie’s discovery that Lucy Maud Montgomery’s life was not characterized by the brightness, warmth, and charm of her writing, and that she in fact ended her own life. But after a while the joy of the story took over, and I could take joy in the joy she evidently found in writing. I wondered if her imagination, like Anne’s, was an outlet, an escape for whatever darkness she experienced, and I only wish she had anchored her hope in the One who could deliver her.

Just after reading the book I watched the first DVD again. Though there are a few differences from the book, overall it is remarkably true to it, and it is visually stunning as well. The scenery, the clothing, the hats, the wallpaper, the decorations — all are a feast for the eyes. And Hagood Hardy’s soundtrack is gorgeous: I kept hearing Anne’s theme even as I was reading the book. (The second film was wonderful as well, though it strayed a little farther from the books, but the third one about Anne’s first years of marriage was a complete rewrite for which Anne fans have yet to forgive Kevin Sullivan. I don’t think he quite realized just what it was about the Anne stories that captivated and charmed viewers. But we’ll save that discussion for another time.)

My first time through the books was a joyful journey of discovery: this reading of Anne was a visit with old friends. I predicted that this would make me want to reread the whole series again, and it has, but I am going to have to hold off for now and get back to that stack of new books that I need to clear off my shelves. But later in the year, perhaps this summer, I hope to visit with Anne again and continue on through the series.

(This post will also be linked to Semicolon’s Saturday Review of Books.)

The Booking Through Thursday question for this week is one I submitted (thanks for using it!):

What books did you get for Christmas (or whichever holiday you may have celebrated last month)?

Do you usually ask for books on gift-giving occasions or do you prefer to buy them yourself?

To answer the last question first, I almost always have books on my “wish list.” I keep a running list of books I might want to read (which has grown exponentially since blogging), and our family likes to work with a list of ideas when a gift-giving occasion comes up, so I peruse that list to see what I might want to add. But when a favorite author has a new book coming out, I don’t usually wait to put it on a wish list — I usually go ahead and get it. I don’t feel too badly about spending the money — it is an investment in entertainment (and we don’t spend much money on entertainment in general), in education and brain stimulation, sometimes in spiritual growth, and I am supporting working artists. 🙂

And though I usually prefer books from my “wish list,” I am not opposed to receiving a book that someone else thinks I might like.

This Christmas I received:

A Novel Idea: Everything You Need to Know About Writing Inspirational Fiction with chapters contributed by Karen Kingsbury, Robin Lee Hatcher, Jerry Jenkins, and others who have been published in this genre. I think about the possibility of writing sometimes, and this looks like a great resource for both inspiration and instruction.

The Tartan Pimpernel, and autobiography of Donald Caskie, “minister of the Scots Kirk in Paris at the time of the German invasion of France in 1940. Although he had several opportunities to flee, Caskie remained there to help establish a network of safe houses and escape routes for Allied soldiers and airmen trapped in occupied territory.” If I remember correctly, I think I saw this recommended by Chris Anderson.

Detour, a non-fiction sequel to Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish by Grace H. Kaiser (my short review of that book is here).  The doctor suffered a spinal cord injury which left her a quadriplegic, resulting in a reversal of roles with the Amish ministering to her.

Parting the Waters:Finding Beauty in Brokenness by Jeanne Damoff. I first read Jeanne when someone (Janet? Sherrie? I’m sorry, I forgot to note who) linked to her articles “How fiction can powerfully inform the practical application of truth,” part one and part two. Both her insights and her writing style resonated with me, and I wanted to read her book about the drowning accident that put her fifteen-year old son, Jacob, in a long coma.

Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson, Christian fiction about the struggle the “good daughter” has when her prodigal sister comes home.

Jane Austen’s Little Instruction Book, a “mini-book” compilation of quotes from her books.

Sew Sunny Homestyle by Tone Finnegar. I’ve mentioned others of her books before: I’m delighted to get this one as well.

Sewing In No Time by Emma Hardy. I think I must have seen this recommended while looking at the above book: I don’t remember. But if I am going to do a sewing project, I want a quick one!

I have looked at the last two page by page and seen several projects I want to do, but otherwise I have not read these yet. I am looking forward to them!

How about you? Did you get any books for Christmas?

Shades of Blue by Karen Kingsbury is the story of a young dating couple who made a series of bad choices and then went separate ways, but they find the consequences of those choices are still haunting them years later. The man, Brad, believes he has moved on with his life until an ad campaign he is working on for baby blankets a few weeks before his own wedding undoes him, and he realizes he must find Emma and apologize.

Emma has never really moved on: she keeps other relationships at bay and has walked away from God, feeling too dirty and sinful to be worthy of His notice or the love of God or man.

The news comes as a blow to Brad’s fiancee, Laura, who has to deal with her own feelings of fear and betrayal.

This book deals carefully and well with the varied emotions resulting from an abortion (no spoilers there as it is revealed early on). The plot is what should ideally happen for forgiveness to be found and for those involved to move on, though, sadly, I am afraid real life probably doesn’t often happen this way.

The Publisher’s Weekly Review says, “Kingsbury tackles a touchy, difficult topic, yet in her characteristic style, her gentle approach wins the day. It will also overcome any reader resistance, no matter what position one takes on this volatile issue.” I agree.

Fit to Be Tied is the second of Robin Lee Hatcher’s Sisters of Bethlehem series. Gwen and Cleo are fraternal twins, separated at the age of two when their mother left their father, taking Gwen with her and leaving Cleo with their father at the ranch in Idaho. Gwen came back to ID to live and renew her relationship with her father and sister, and though they love each other dearly, Gwen and Cleo are as different as night and day. Gwen is every bit the refined lady; Cleo is the chief wrangler of her father’s ranch, more comfortable in trousers and with the animals, in 1916 Idaho where this was highly unconventional for women.

Into their midst comes an English aristocrat, Sherwood Stratham, who has been sent to America as punishment by his father in hopes that he will mend his ways. He ends up as a hand on the ranch with Cleo as his reluctant supervisor. They have to deal with their differences and prejudices against each other until they begin to discover the good qualities in each other.

It wouldn’t take much to guess that the couple falls in love, but how they get there is a lot of fun and free from many of the cliches that westerns or an opposites-attracting storyline can fall into. I liked how the plot progressed and I like the real depth of their relationship.

Thanks to Zondervan for providing a copy of Fit to Be Tied for review.

I’ve been a little reluctant to join any book challenges because I have so many books to be read on my shelf, and many more on a list. But these two are calling to me.

The folks at 5 Minutes For Books have revamped their Classics Bookclub: instead of choosing one classic for everyone to read and discuss, now anyone can read any classic, and instead of meeting and linking up once a month, they will meet once a quarter. You can list what book(s) you read and wrote about and then peruse the list to see what others read, clicking on the ones that interest you.

I do want to keep the classics in my regular reading, but I don’t often reach for them unless there is a specific challenge or goal like this. I mentioned earlier that I had read most of the classics I had a burning desire to, and perhaps it was time to revisit some old favorites.

Along those lines, Carrie at Reading to Know is hosting an L. M. Montgomery Reading Challenge: basically we’re to pick any book(s) of L. M. Montgomery, write a post stating we’re joining the challenge and leave a comment on this post, read the book some time during January, then on Jan. 31 leave a comment with a link back to whatever Montgomery books we read and posted about during the month.

I think these two will dovetail nicely!

So my tentative goals for the Classics Bookclub are:

1. Read Anne of Green Gables for this and the Montgomery challenge. This will probably make me want to reread all the books and watch the film series again, but I’ll just have to deal with that. 🙂

2. Read something from Agatha Christie. I’ve been saying I want to for ages: now is the time to do it!

3. Carrie is also hosting a Chronicles of Narnia reading challenge in July. I am still thinking about that and may do it: I’d love to revisit the series.

I think the fourth option I will leave open for now and see what develops and what I am in the mood for later, since nothing in particular is coming to mind just now.

Oh, and there are prizes associated with each challenge. The Classics Bookclub will enter anyone who signs up with their goals by Jan. 31 into a drawing for Invitation to the Classics: A Guide to Books You’ve Always Wanted to Read and a copy of Jane Eyre from the Readable Classics series. Carrie is offering a locket from Emma Parker & Co. as a prize.

I just posted my list of books read in 2009. I was surprised the total ended up at only 42 (though I’d say the 1400+ pages of Les Mis has to count for at least five books, dontcha think? 🙂 ) Some people think I read a lot, but I’m nowhere near Carrie’s 132!

I’ve read as Semicolon has posted her top ten books from different genres the past several days. I haven’t read enough or from enough different genres to do that, but these are my overall favorite books read in 2009, in no particular order:

1. Les Miserables (unabridged) by Victor Hugo, reviewed here. I had read different abridged versions before, and it had been my goal for a long time to read the  whole unabridged version. I am glad I did: I enjoyed it, but I don’t know that I would do it again! I do think I’ll revisit the story in the future, but I’ll feel free to skip over some of the longer side trails in the book.

2. Becoming God’s True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss. I read it twice this year but have yet to review it: there is just so much to it, it’s hard to know how to condense anything I might say about it other than that I highly recommend it. But this is a review I agreed to do, so I need to get on that right away! Reviewed here.

3. Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, a compilation by Nancy Guthrie of 22 Christmas related essays from authors varying from Augustine and Luther to Piper and MacArthur. I just finished this and haven’t had a chance to review it yet, either, but I loved it. I am already planning on using it again next December: it may become an annual tradition.

4. To The Golden Shore by Courtney Anderson, reviewed here. A detailed biography of America’s first missionary, Adoniram Judson. Depth of character, faithfulness in any circumstance, even the severest hardships, a brilliant mind yielded totally to God.

5. Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer and Daily Light on the Daily Path. I’ll put the two devotional books together. I’ve been using Daily Light for years and feel a little funny listing it as a favorite — but it is. Meyer’s book is new to me this year, and it was my introduction to his writing (that’s the main reason I picked it up: I’d heard much of him and wanted to read directly from him. I did enjoy the book and plan to use it again this year.

6. How Do I Love Thee? by Nancy Moser about the relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, reviewed here.

7. The Centurion’s Wife by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke, reviewed here, about the time just after Christ’s death. I don’t usually like fictional books based on Biblical accounts, but this one kept true to the Bible while employing imagination about what certain situations and people might have been like.

8. Fatal Illusion by Adam Blumer, reviewed here. Very suspenseful! If you like mystery and suspense, put this on your list.

9. Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes by Robin Jones Gunn. I have enjoyed this whole series, but something about this one just especially spoke to me.

10. Sometimes a Light Surprises by Jamie Langston Turner, reviewed here, my favorite of Turner’s books.

I did not read as many classics this year, I think partly because Les Mis took so much time, partly because I had a big stack of books from a clearance table at the Christian bookstore that I still haven’t read through, and partly because since starting a blog I’ve read most of the ones I had in mind. I still want to read something by Agatha Christie, but this may be a year to revisit some old favorites.

I had planned to do this post anyway, but today’s Booking Through Thursday prompt also asks us what our favorite books of the year were, so I’ll link this post there as well.

With the first day of winter comes…the end of Callapidder Days‘ Fall Into Reading Challenge! Those who participated can write about how they did with the goals they set way back at the beginning of fall. Katrina has a Mr. Linky set up where we can check in with each other.

I completed these books on my original list:

A Surrendered Heart by Tracy Peterson and Judith Miller, third in the Broadmoor Legacy series, briefly reviewed here.

The Missing, second in the Seasons of Grace series by Beverly Lewis, briefly reviewed here.

American Haven by Elisabeth Yates, reviewed just briefly here.

Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman, reviewed here.

The Heirloom by Colleen L. Reece and Julie Reece-DeMarco, given to me by my friend, Carol, reviewed here.

My Heart Remembers by Kim Vogel Sawyer.

Becoming God’s True Woman edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, reviewed here.

Dr. Frau: A Woman Doctor Among the Amish by Grace H. Kaiser, briefly reviewed here.

I did not read:

The Hidden Flame by Janette Oke and Davis Bunn. It just came out this month – I just got it last week and was already into a couple of other books. It’s one of the next ones in the queue!

How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire. I’ve had this one my list multiple times and just keep not getting to it. This type of non-fiction is not my forte, but I am hoping it will help improve what I retain from reading non-fiction. I need to just make time to make myself start it.

My Heart Restored, a Bible study by June Kimmel. I came across another devotional book I wanted to do at this time of year, which leads me to:

I read these books which were not on my original list:

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, a compilation of 22 Christmas related essays from authors varying from Augustine and Luther to Piper. I had gotten it at the end of last year after seeing it mentioned on several blogs and just rediscovered it when organizing my bookshelves. I read it in place of the Bible study mentioned above. I haven’t reviewed it yet, but I highly recommend it.

A Vote of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher, reviewed here.

Home to Harmony by Phillip Gulley.

Farraday Road by Ace Collins, reviewed here.

My favorite books from the challenge were Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus and Becoming God’s True Woman. My least favorite was Farraday Road.

Usually I try to incorporate a classic novel in my reading, but I didn’t have a particular one in mind, and I wanted to get my TBR shelf cleared off a little, so I went through a lot of the Christian fiction instead, which goes a little faster.

I enjoy this challenge because: it is non-pressurized; it usually causes me to incorporate some things into my reading that I’ve been wanting to read but don’t usually pick up when I am scrounging around for the next book; and I enjoy seeing what others have been reading, though it does cause my TBR list to grow exponentially.

The Booking Through Thursday for Thursday wasn’t posted until later in the day, and I was gone most of the day, so I am just now getting to it. It happens to be one I submitted:

What do you think of speed-reading? Is it a good way to get through a lot of books, or does the speed-reader miss depth and nuance? Do you speed-read? Is some material better suited to speed-reading than others?

I don’t speed-read, and that’s why I asked the question. It seems as though you would miss a lot that way. I like to really slow down and savor some parts of the plot. Actually, if it is really suspenseful or I am really into the plot, I’ll read quickly to see what happens and then come back and go over it more slowly.

I do wish I had known how to speed-read in college, though, especially in some classes where one could make an A without reading the textbook except that points were taken off for not completing the reading. And when I am reading for some types of specific information, I’ll skim, but speed-reading would probably give me more depth than skimming.

But to me the point of reading is not to just get through a lot of material. I want to glean something from what the writer says and to enjoy not only the story but the way it is crafted. I like the nuances, the fine details, the choice of words. In fact, one book which has been on my TBR list for ages is How To Read Slowly by James W. Sire. I’m hoping it will help me read in a way to comprehend and retain more.

I’m looking forward to reading some of the other answers here to see what people think about speed-reading.

American Haven by Elisabeth Yates was suggested to me by my blog friend Sally when I mentioned a book I read as a child about an English girl named Merry who came to America. This turned out not to be that book, but it was a pleasant read. It is the third in a series about Merry (Meredith) and her brother Michael. In this book, the two are sent to America for safety from their home in England during World War II. I loved the Journeyforth books when my children and nieces and nephews were small, and I highly recommend them. This series is suggested for ages 9-12.

The publisher’s description of Plain Perfect by Beth Wiseman is as fellows:

On the rolling plains of Lancaster County, PA., Lillian Miller is searching for her grandparents’ house…and so much more. After years of neglect and abuse, she’s turning to a lifestyle of simplicity among the Amish to find herself.

As she discards the distractions of her former life, she befriends the young boy working on her family’s farm and his attractive widowed father, Samuel Stoltzfus. Despite Lillian’s best efforts to the contrary, her feelings for Samuel–and his for her–deepen. Will Lillian find her faith in Plain living, or will she be forced to return to her former life?

I enjoyed the story as a story and I enjoyed Lilly’s development as well as her burgeoning relationship with Samuel. But with Lilly’s almost non-religious background, the way of salvation is not really made clear to her, though she is told it is a matter of the heart rather than just keeping the Ordnung. The message she seems to receive is, “Keep living an Amish-based Christian life, and it will make sense to you after a while,” which is not the way I would present it. And though there are many, many things to admire about the Amish, their lifestyle isn’t idyllic and peaceful just because they keep themselves from certain aspects of the world. So, though Lilly found peace there, I wouldn’t say one seeking peace should run off and join the Amish. But a reader who is already settled on the way of salvation and peace could enjoy the story.

My blog friend Lizzie gave me A Vote of Confidence by Robin Lee Hatcher, a book about a woman running for mayor of Bethlehem Springs, Idaho, in 1915. The back of the book says, “Who says a woman can’t do a man’s job?” Honestly, if I had thought it was just a story about a spunky heroine trying to do a “man’s job” just to prove she could, I would not have been interested. But I have enjoyed what I have read of Robin’s books, so I read on. Gwen’s reasons for running for mayor are good and objections are dealt with in the first few chapters. She has to campaign against her alcoholic opponent and a handsome newcomer who tosses his hat into the ring because of the difficulties he has encountered in getting his health spa built as well as contend with a lawyer who lends his support only to try to control her.

I appreciate Robin’s efforts to show that Biblically feminine women do not all have to be cut from the same exact mold, but I felt the “traditional” stay-at-home wife and mother was somewhat maligned in Gwen’s thoughts. It makes sense that a lady who chose to be single and independent would think as she does, but I would have liked a little counter-balance.

But other than that, I found this an enjoyable, well-crafted book, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.