A Simply Enchanted Life

The Secret Keeper by Beverly Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Suggested Age: 12+
Genre: Christian, Amish Fiction

Two words that make this entire series worth reading: Ella Mae. Yep…I just love the old wise woman of Hickory Hollow and I pretty much pick up any book that she’s going to be in!

This book was a little different in that it was about an Englisher who wants to be Amish rather than about an Amishwoman who wishes to be English!

I loved the book—a lot! If you’re looking for a series to pick up I do strongly suggest the Home to Hickory Hollow series. However, if you haven’t read “The Shunning” I would advise that you pick that up first. You’ll appreciate the characters much more if you have acquainted yourself with all the residents of the hollow.

Jenny has always felt that she didn’t belong and she is determined to leave behind her fancy life and embrace the plain way of living.

She finds herself in the home of Samuel and Rebecca Lapp, Katie (from The Shunning) Lapp’s adoptive parents. They are to be her mentors and help her make the transition into the Amish faith. Yet, another secret surrounding this family may very well be an undoing to Jenny’s Proving period.

The Proving for Jenny is a time period in which she must put away her fancy way of life and learn the way of the plain people. She must learn the Ordnung which is the unspoken rules that the Amish live by and she must learn their language of Pennsylvania Dutch.

Though this is all that Jenny has dreamed of there are still trials that she must go through and a great testing of her faith. She needs to know that this is not just what she wants but also what God wants of her.

I was so pleased that this particular book stressed that no one church is a perfect church or the perfect structure. We are all human and we all fail. We simply have to find the place that God has chosen for us and then stick in there for His glory.

Beverly Lewis is an absolute delight to read and I can’t wait for the next installment to this series.
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Beverly Marie Jones (Lewis) was born in the heart of Amish country—Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At the tender age of nine, she began writing short stories and poetry.

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."

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."

You can find out more about this author by visiting her website at http://www.beverlylewis.com/