Bestselling author Beverly Lewis delivers yet another unforgettable saga from Amish country. In this book, Lewis successfully explores the areas of love, loss, and forbidden talent in a small community of strict Amish people.
Annie Zook is an artist with an amazing ability. She has the gift of art; her drawings and paintings make viewers feel they are really in the picture's setting. Unfortunately, her conservative Amish church frowns on such forms of self-expression as painting, drawing, and other art forms. The church feels that such art is self-promotion, a way of the individual trying to be better than others or trying to be "English"(the Amish term for an outsider).
Annie has a dilemma - a choice between church, family, the small community of Paradise and eveything she has ever known, or her beloved art and the world she has never seen or known. She has been pen-pals with an "Englisher" - wealthy Colorado resident Louisa Stratford, who happens to be an art teacher. Louisa has recently broken off her engagement and comes to visit Annie to enjoy the peace and heal from her heartache. Will Louisa find peace and a new life in the quiet community of Paradise? What will Annie do about the forbidden art she is compelled make?
Paradise also has a mystery. A small boy was abducted and presumed murdered years before. As is the Amish way, no formal investigation was opened, nor were the police notified. Annie's best friend is married to the brother of the missing boy, and her husband becomes more and more abusive as he slides deeper and deeper into a depression over his brother's disappearance. He blames himself for his brother's disappearance, and his parents blame him as well. Everytime he thinks about his brother, he lashes out in blind rage against the nearest person, usually his wife. Will he ever come to peace with the loss of his brother?
Lewis has penned yet another haunting, unforgettable book about the small, misunderstood Amish sect. This book makes my top favorite recent books list, and I feel sure that anyone who reads this novel will come away feeling moved - and anxiously awaiting the next installment by Beverly Lewis.