Brenda Rupp's Reviews > The Atonement
The Atonement
by Beverly Lewis
by Beverly Lewis
I'm a fan of books about the Amish as I see them so often in the area where my Grandmother lives. I've learned a lot about their culture through the books that I've read and Beverly Lewis is an author that I've read several times. This is more of a series book. You start off reading about Lucy Flaud a twenty-five year old woman who has a secret in her past. She can't get past that, she fills her days with donating her time for the plain and fancy in the neighborhood surrounding her family's farm. She is beyond the age of someone looking for a husband, and she doesn't take part in any of the singings, or other activities aimed to help the young people to get to know each other so that they may find a mate to marry.
Lucy has her days so full of helping others, that there is no time left for herself. She has a hole in her heart and she is trying to fill it so that she doesn't have time to think about her past, she hasn't forgiven her Father, she hasn't forgiven the young man that she was involved with and she hasn't found forgiveness from God. She finds ways to avoid being at church on the days that they take communion because her heart isn't ready for that.
I gave the book a four as it drags a bit, it just doesn't move along giving you the missing information from the first book, and it doesn't give you the information on Lucy's past. The book was hard to keep reading and it seemed after I got to a certain point in the book things started to pick up. The who family is concerned about Lucy and her Father starts attending a grief group out in the community, it isn't a part of the plain people's group. Lucy does attend with her Father after he asks her to attend but she just can't figure out why he is going, and she dosn't know that she can keep attending she isn't ready to discuss her problematic past. Her Father brings a young man from the group home so he can see how they set up their home and chicken coop up, he wants to start living off the grid. The young man does get involved with Lucy in helping a young woman in the community. Many in the community see this young man coming to their home as a mistake, they are judging Lucy and her Father, without all of the information. All is revealed eventually, the book is good although I believe I would have enjoyed it more had I read book one.
I do believe I received the book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.
Here is the information as found here on Good Reads: A Must-Have Novel from the #1 Name in Amish Fiction
The mistakes of the past haunt Lucy Flaud, who years ago stopped attending the activities for courting-age young people in her hometown of Bird-in-Hand. Now twenty-five and solidly past the age of Amish courtship, Lucy has given up any hope of marriage, instead focusing her efforts on volunteering in both the Plain and fancy communities of Lancaster County. Yet no matter how hard Lucy strives, she feels uncertain that she'll ever find redemption.
Dale Wyeth has a deep mistrust of modern-day "advances" and the dependency they create. The young Englisher's interest in living off the grid is fueled further when he meets Christian Flaud, Lucy's father. Dale appreciates the self-sufficient ways of the Old Order Amish, and Christian invites him to learn more about them by staying at the family farm.
As Christian and Dale grow closer, developing a father-son rapport, Lucy begins to question what Dale's being there might mean for her. Could God be testing her? Or is it possible that even the most unworthy heart--and two people from very different walks of life--can somehow find a new beginning?
Lucy has her days so full of helping others, that there is no time left for herself. She has a hole in her heart and she is trying to fill it so that she doesn't have time to think about her past, she hasn't forgiven her Father, she hasn't forgiven the young man that she was involved with and she hasn't found forgiveness from God. She finds ways to avoid being at church on the days that they take communion because her heart isn't ready for that.
I gave the book a four as it drags a bit, it just doesn't move along giving you the missing information from the first book, and it doesn't give you the information on Lucy's past. The book was hard to keep reading and it seemed after I got to a certain point in the book things started to pick up. The who family is concerned about Lucy and her Father starts attending a grief group out in the community, it isn't a part of the plain people's group. Lucy does attend with her Father after he asks her to attend but she just can't figure out why he is going, and she dosn't know that she can keep attending she isn't ready to discuss her problematic past. Her Father brings a young man from the group home so he can see how they set up their home and chicken coop up, he wants to start living off the grid. The young man does get involved with Lucy in helping a young woman in the community. Many in the community see this young man coming to their home as a mistake, they are judging Lucy and her Father, without all of the information. All is revealed eventually, the book is good although I believe I would have enjoyed it more had I read book one.
I do believe I received the book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.
Here is the information as found here on Good Reads: A Must-Have Novel from the #1 Name in Amish Fiction
The mistakes of the past haunt Lucy Flaud, who years ago stopped attending the activities for courting-age young people in her hometown of Bird-in-Hand. Now twenty-five and solidly past the age of Amish courtship, Lucy has given up any hope of marriage, instead focusing her efforts on volunteering in both the Plain and fancy communities of Lancaster County. Yet no matter how hard Lucy strives, she feels uncertain that she'll ever find redemption.
Dale Wyeth has a deep mistrust of modern-day "advances" and the dependency they create. The young Englisher's interest in living off the grid is fueled further when he meets Christian Flaud, Lucy's father. Dale appreciates the self-sufficient ways of the Old Order Amish, and Christian invites him to learn more about them by staying at the family farm.
As Christian and Dale grow closer, developing a father-son rapport, Lucy begins to question what Dale's being there might mean for her. Could God be testing her? Or is it possible that even the most unworthy heart--and two people from very different walks of life--can somehow find a new beginning?
