A dusty carved box containing two locks of hair and a century-old letter regarding property in Switzerland, and a burning desire to learn about her biological family lead nurse-midwife Lexie Jaeger from her home in Oregon to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. There she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die.
Lexie steps in to assume Marta’s patient load even as she continues the search for her birth family, and from her patients she learns the true meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch word demut, which means “to let be” as she changes from a woman who wants to control everything to a woman who depends on God.
A compelling story about a search for identity and the ability to trust that God securely holds our whole life—past, present, and future.
Alexandra “Lexie” is a nursing mid-wife in Oregon when she gets the
dreaded phonecall at work. Her father,
who has cancer, doesn’t have long for this world. She takes a leave of absence and rushes to
his side. On his death bed, he tells her about a box in the closet for her, one
he never opened but one that might bring her closer to finding her birth
parents. After his death, she looks
into the box that has a letter about property in Switzerland, 2 swatches of
hair and not much else. Her dear friend
Sophie makes some enquiries, and finds that a mid-wife in Pennsylvania needs
some help and it might do Lexie good to take a break and to also look for her
birth parents.
When she arrives at Marta’s house, against Marta’s wishes, things go
awry. No one wants to give her information about her birth, and no one wants
her help. Marta is going through some legal battles at the moment and when
pushes against the wall, realizes she needs Lexie’s help with her Amish
patients and the babies soon to come.
Along the way, Lexie meets a doctor who she starts having meals with,
even though she left her fiancé James back in Oregon, telling him they were on a break. She also pokes her nose into everyone’s
business to get the information she is seeking. She won’t take no for an
answer, even though the Amish prefer to leave the past in the past and not
discuss it.
Things eventually come to a head, with the help of someone close to Lexie and
all is revealed. However, it isn’t quite what Lexie was looking for. She needs
to look to God for the peace and comfort of the answers she is given. I liked most of the characters in this novel,
and I found it interesting to see how different Amish settlements lived. I did not care for Lexie. While I felt for
her plight, she didn’t care if she hurt
people in her path to her goals. She was actually a pretty flat character
except when she was angry. Then she became a full dimensional person who had
some life and fire in her.
I look forward to reading the next installment in the Lancaster series. I
thought the settings were great and would love to delve into some of the
secondary characters’ lives. I just hope
Lexie is better behaved if she makes any cameo appearances. All in all, a great story if you love reading
about the Amish, prefer your fiction clean and a mystery that keeps you turning
the pages long into the night.
*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wendy
I love reading Amish books, and this one sounds really great! Thanks for the review.
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