A wonderful Christmas story about the power of forgiveness. Very heartwarming story about the reconciliation of a family. The youngest daughter of the family, Anna Mae, leaves the Amish community to marry an Englisher. Her father is the Bishop of the Amish community and he feels betrayed that one of his daughters left the Amish faith. Being the Bishop he feels this reflects badly on him and his teachings. He feels betrayed and hurt by her actions. Anna Mae didn't do it to cause pain but because she truly loves Kellan, her husband. He is a good, Christian man - but not Amish. It is a quick easy read and a very enjoyable book.
I am not sure about the 'rules' of shunning though. Found that interesting. In this book, it states that "the shunning tradition dictates that we can't eat at the same table as she does and we can't conduct business with her. It says nothing about visiting with her...." p. 110. In other words, they were allowed to talk and have contact with the shunned person. I guess I didn't realize this was the case. I thought shunning was more along the lines of completely not acknowledging the shunned person at all - no contact. No reading their letters. No correspondence. No seeing and visiting them. That was not what was indicated in the book. So now I am curious - do different Amish communities have different rules regarding shunning? What are the rules? I guess I will have to do a bit of research. Anyone have any insight on this?
2 comments:
Thank you for the wonderful review! And to clarify, the shunning in my book is true to the Amish community I research for my books.
Thank you Amy - I truly am not up on the shunning rules but was actually glad to see it wasn't as oppressive as I had imagined. It was explained very nicely in your book. Thank you. It actually gave me a better insight into the Amish and their beliefs. And a better feeling for it as I have had a hard time understanding the need or purpose of shunning. Thank you. It was a very well written book and I enjoyed reading it.
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