The Arms of Love - Book Review

I picked up this book to read because we are currently studying the American Revolution. This book takes place during that time period - and depicts the difficulty that the Quakers and Amish had remaining neutral. Some ended up going against their beliefs and joining the fight. Those that remained true to their faith and remained neutral were often criticized by others in the area. Sometimes they were harassed and sometimes they were jailed. The book was very interesting to read and I can only imagine how difficult it was for the Quakers and Amish to live during that time period. They came to America for freedom to worship God as they believed. The war for Independence would ultimately secure that freedom - yet they were caught in the middle - as their beliefs did not allow them to pick up a gun and join the fight. 

There were some interesting differences that I noted between the Amish of today and the Amish of  1777. In the book, it portrayed the Bishop as being in favor of learning - even for women to have higher levels of women. He viewed this as a good thing, although other characters in the book questioned the Bishop's reasoning on this. The Amish of today do not typically obtain an education past the 8th grade. Also, bundling was suggested as an okay practice and I do not believe that is a practice the Amish currently subscribe to today. Additionally, in the book one of the characters did a laying on of hands to heal a sick child. I have not heard of the Amish of today subscribing to this practice. 

I enjoyed reading and learning more about the Amish - and noting how their practice of their faith has changed over the centuries. The book was good but at the end it did get to be a bit much - most times the book ends with the marriage occurring - this went on --- and on their wedding night the bride gets bit by a snake and nearly dies. I just think that could have been left out of the book. It just seemed to be out of place with the entire rest of the plot line. Interesting time period to study though and I have not read anything covering the Amish during the Revolutionary War. So that was very interesting.

A complementary copy of the book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.