Anna Mary Zook works at the farmer’s market and takes care of her mother and five siblings. Her mother suffers from depression after the death of her second husband. And if that isn’t enough, Anna Mary’s boyfriend is enamored by another girl.
Abe King is helping his uncle while his brothers fill in for their dead with a large dairy farm. Abe sees the best about Anna Mary.
I just never got “into” this book.
Click Read more to find out why.
Imagine — you are an Amish grandparent. You have four Englisher grandchildren. And all four of them show up – no heads up — announcing they want to be Amish. All four of them at the same time! AND they expect not only live with them BUT also to help them every step of the way. You will admire how Josiah and Sylvia Schrock handle this surprise. …
A Is for Amish is the first of a new series by this prolific author, Shelley Shepard Gray. And what an unusual plot. As a grandparent, I could easily imagine myself as Sylvia Schrock faced with four grown grandchildren stating not only were they moving in but she and Josiah were expected to “make” them Amish. The idea is wonderful; the implementation is a nightmare.
When Hope Sank: April 27, 1865. The day the steamboat, the Sultana, went down and over 1,100 people died.
The book is the third in the series, A Day to Remember.
Such research went into this book.Like many history buffs (I’m one via my genealogy research and no, I didn’t have anyone on the Sultana.), I’ve read about the Sultana tragedy and wondered if it was an accident, poor judgment, or what we would call today a terrorist act. This is a novel based on a historical event. The Sultana remains the worst maritime disaster in United States history.
The novel, When Hope Sank, is a window into what happened, the survivors and those who cared for them. The Civil War had ended only days before (April 9th). Soldiers were coming home. Those who hated still hated — whether Union or Confederate.