Description
“With her Amish parents’ twentieth anniversary approaching, eighteen-year-old Sylvia Miller stumbles across a surprise–the old brass tinderbox her clockmaker father keeps in his Lancaster County shop has been left unlocked. Against her better judgment, Sylvia opens the cherished heirloom, not realizing that what she is about to discover will splinter apart her happy life.
Sylvia’s bewilderment grows when her father confronts her about snooping in the box. To her amazement, the respected convert to the Old Order reacts as if he has something to hide.
Burdened by the weight of his deception, Earnest Miller decides he must reveal the details about his past to his beloved wife, Rhoda. The long-kept secret alters everything for the close-knit family, jeopardizing Earnest and Rhoda’s relationship, as well as threatening Sylvia’s recent engagement to the preacher’s grandson.
Can the Millers find a way forward through the turmoil to a place of forgiveness and acceptance?”
My Review:
Before you begin this book: Be aware that the major storylines in this book will be unresolved with a new storyline appearing on the last couple of pages. If that’s a pet peeve of yours, then you’ll want to wait about reading this one.
This is not lighthearted reading. The story takes a long look at what happens when you have the intent to deceive and then cover up your sin of deception. There are secrets being kept by Earnest Miller that have the potential to have a major impact on his family and their standing in their Amish community. It’s when those secrets come to light that the story becomes absorbing. This is past the halfway point in the book, so don’t give up reading too quickly,
A major theme in this book is how trust, once broken, is not always easy to regain. The author does a good job of bringing this point home to the reader. She also emphasizes God’s love and forgiveness and how we should extend that to others. I’d love to discuss this book in a group, as there’s a couple of questions that I have that I won’t list here. I don’t want to give away the storyline in this review. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series to see if those questions are answered.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.