The Englisch Daughter by Cindy Woodsmall & Erin Woodsmall

Book Synopsis

A marriage is tested in this Old Order Amish novel of longing for renewed love and a path for forgiveness from the best-selling author of Gathering the Threads .

Old Order Amish wife and mother Jemima has put her marriage and family ahead of herself for years. She's set herself aside. Raising four children, she's followed all the rules and has been patient in looking forward to her time to chase a dream of her own.

But when she finds out that her life savings for pursuing that dream is gone--and her husband, Roy, has been hiding a child with another woman--her entire world is shattered. Will she be able to listen to God and love Roy's child? With so much at stake, how can she and Roy fix their relationship before their lives come crashing down?

My thoughts:

This is my favorite book written by Cindy Woodsmall and her daughter-in-law, Erin and I have read several.  I  was surprised by the emotional story and was infuriated by it at the same time.  At first, I was shocked by how deceitful Roy was but more than that I truly felt so sorry for his wife Jemima and the pain he inflicted on their family.

Let's be real here, admit the Amish are flawed human beings but I don't think I have ever read a book quite like this one and hats off to Jemima for her compassion and her ability to forgive and to trust again.  She is the epitome of a loving faithful wife which made me respect her decisions.  There were a couple of twists that I didn't expect which added to my enjoyment of this novel.

With any good book, there is bound to be a character you don't like and some who you wind up liking much more than you anticipated.  To me that is a sure sign of a well written, interesting storyline that holds you attention throughout which is why I loved The Englisch Daughter so much.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.