Wanda (bnredeemed) reviewed on 10/19/2010 + 58 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

Not only was this my first acquaintance with Ms Fishers writing but also my first time reading Amish fiction. But after reading this book, its unlikely to be my last. Although the main storyline revolves around Jorie King, a young Amish maiden, waiting for her beloved Benjamin Zook to return home from the Vietnam War, the book is filled with characters that are in a wait of their own. Waiting to be free. Waiting to die. Waiting to love again. Waiting to be understood. Waiting to be accepted despite ones skin color. As anyone who has experienced the wait between ones dream and its manifestation knows things dont always go as planned. And, the Amish are no exception.

Readers are taken along alongside Jorie, Caleb, Ben, Matthew, Ephraim, and Maggie as they try to make sense of their changing world through the eyes of their faith. The Waiting drew me in from the very first page and as I turned the last page, I long to stay a little longer at Beacon Hollow. The Amish have their ow way of doing things but the book includes scenarios that most people from any walk of life could easily relate to like:

- A single father struggling to make a living and raise two children on his own, while battling grief.
- An African American facing prejudice and opposition in the 1960s.
- People of faith attempting to balance being in the world but not becoming a part of the world.
- A young man seeking to find his own identify and place in the world outside of the confines of the expectations of others.
- A family's denial of the reality of Alzheimers disease

Although The Waiting is the second book in the Lancaster County Secrets series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

Disclosure: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes by LitFuse.

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