Darla’s father was responsible for a terrible fire at Charm’s lumber mill which killed five Amish men. And though he, too, lost his life, the town of Charm hasn’t looked at her family the same since. Even Lukas Kinsinger—with whom Darla used to have a close friendship.
Now her brother’s anger at the town is spilling over onto Darla, and she has the bruises to prove it. The accident already cost five lives, but if something doesn’t change soon, Darla fears it will cost her—and her family—even more.
Lukas Kinsinger wants to mourn the loss of his father, but he can hardly find the time to breathe. Suddenly the head of his father’s lumber mill and responsible for taking care of his three siblings, he’s feeling the pressure. He has also never felt more alone—especially with the new tension between he and Darla. But when he learns of her troubles at home, Lukas knows he can’t simply stand by and watch. Someone has to help her before another tragedy occurs.
As Lukas and Darla attempt to repair their families, they discover something deeper than friendship growing between them. But will Lukas and Darla’s love be accepted after so much loss? Or will the pain of the past overcome any chance of future happiness?
Shelley Shepard Gray’s first book in her Charmed Amish Life series is set in the quaint Amish village of Charm, Ohio, and tells the stories of the Kinsinger siblings who are each struggling to find both forgiveness and love in the face of tragedy.
My biggest problem with Amish fiction is that many of the stories feature the same main problems: what if I love someone who’s not Amish? and Should I stay within the Amish faith or leave? Those are very valid concerns, and quite respectable story lines within the genre, but ….
That’s what makes Shelley Shepard Gray’s newest book A Son’s Vow one of the best Amish stories I’ve read in years: her characters face incredibly realistic problems, yet their faith shines through brightly. Nobody will mistake Gray’s new cast of characters as living with rosy glasses on; in one way or another, everyone is facing problems head-on. These problems take Amish fiction to a new level: we’re no longer talking only about love, but about physical abuse and forgiveness and abandonment.
Gray deals with these deep topics with wisdom and compassion. I appreciate the way that her characters took time to determine a Biblical course of action. They stood up for others, whether the people attacking them were Amish or English. They took time to invest in relationships, regardless of the faith background of the other person.
I’m glad that this book is the first in a new series. I’ve read many of Gray’s books, and while she’s an excellent writer, this is definitely the best one yet. I look forward to returning to Charm.
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Shelley Shepard Gray is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers prestigious Carol Award, and a two-time HOLT Medallion winner. She lives in southern Ohio, where she writes full-time, bakes too much, and can often be found walking her dachshunds on her town’s bike trail.
