This week, the
Christian Fiction Blog Alliance
is introducing
The Fiddler
Bethany House Publishers (April 10, 2012)
by
Beverly Lewis
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Beverly’s first venture into adult fiction is the best-selling trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, including The Shunning, a suspenseful saga of Katie Lapp, a young Amish woman drawn to the modern world by secrets from her past. The book is loosely based on the author’s maternal grandmother, Ada Ranck Buchwalter, who left her Old Order Mennonite upbringing to marry a Bible College student. One Amish-country newspaper claimed Beverly’s work to be “a primer on Lancaster County folklore” and offers “an insider’s view of Amish life.”

Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly’s tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, “Beverly’s books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don’t run across writing like that every day. I hope she’ll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time.”

A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction “book worms.”

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Come home to Hickory Hollow, Pennsylvania–the beloved setting where Beverly Lewis’s celebrated Amish novels began–with new characters and new stories of drama, romance, and the ties that draw people together.

A wrong turn in a rainstorm leads Englisher Amelia Devries to Michael Hostetler–and the young Amishman’s charming Old Order community of Hickory Hollow. Despite their very different backgrounds, Amelia and Michael both feel hemmed in by the expectations of others and struggle with how to find room for their own hopes. And what first seems to be a chance encounter might just change their lives forever.

If you would like to read the first chapter of The Fiddler, go HERE.

Watch the book video:

MY REVIEW:

The Fiddler is the story of a young woman torn between her career as a professional violist and her desire for a more normal lifestyle. Her secret life as a fiddler has just been discovered and she has major decisions to make about her future. Lost in a driving rainstorm, a damaged tire forces Amelia to seek shelter. Her unexpected encounter with Michael, a young Amish man and a long weekend spent among the Amish of Hickory Hollow changes everything for both of them but not in the ways they imagine.

In her usual extremely readable style, Beverly Lewis has written a novel that illustrates the appeal that the Amish lifestyle has for those whose lives are filled with stress. In addition The Fiddler makes a good case for ways that compromise can work between the two cultures when the individuals involved truly follow the Lord. It also depicts the unexpected dangers of life outside the Amish community  for naive and inexperienced Amish young people who leave home ill prepared for the outside world.

The Fiddler is a story about true-to-life people who experience realistic situations. The plot is believable and the characters are engaging. I think we all wish for a simpler lifestyle like Amelia desired and if nothing else, we can escape for a few hours into The Fiddler or another Beverly Lewis book.