Carrie Miller longs for children, but after ten years of marriage, that blessing eludes her. So she fills her days with caring for her home, making artistic gifts and fancy cakes, and caring for her flock of chickens, every one of whom has a name and who under no circumstances will go in the soup pot. Carrie also finds support in the friendship she shares with her two best friends Amelia and Emma, and relishes the weekly afternoons they share working on their quilts.
Carrie and her husband Melvin love each other, and together have survived many lean years. If not for the kindness of their church community, they would have had to miss more than one meal a day. But now, Melvin has found work that finally provides a good living. Carrie hopes that having more to eat will finally allow them to start a family. Yet month after month, they remain childless. So when Carrie overhears two English women talking in the fabric store one day about medical options available to non-Amish women in her situation, she takes it as a sign from God. Melvin and the bishop see it differently, however. Is it really God's will that she pursue this, or is her longing to be a mother tempting her to stray from her Amish beliefs?
All Carrie wants is to be a mother. She loves her husband and her life, but her heart aches at the thought that she might never have a child of her own. When she learns of medical interventions that could aid her quest for children, she is at first excited, but her husband and the church leaders shoot those desires down. When a young girl in their community becomes pregnant, Carrie and other women in the community attempt to help her, but Carrie's husband isn't pleased with the idea of adoption either.
As I did with the first book in this trilogy, A Wounded Heart, I really struggled with the attitudes and how Carrie's feelings were so easily disregarded by the church leaders and even her husband. My personal belief is the fact that medical intervention is available, within reason, to aid in pregnancy and childbirth is a blessing rather than a sin. I was glad to see that Melvin came around to accepting adoption because I am a huge advocate of adoption and have seen countless lives blessed because of it.
Given my limited understanding of the Amish, I respect their faith, but I can't begin to understand it. I am always curious about it and how modern-day issues are addressed within their beliefs and culture. I enjoyed this fitting conclusion to the Amish Quilt trilogy.
Thanks to Sarah at FaithWords for the opportunity to review this book. You can learn more about Adina Senft here. You can purchase your own copy here
.Read 3/13
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4/5 Stars
It makes me so sad to think that the medical interventions were not allowed, but it sounds like the protagonist found her own way to build a family, though it at first didn't please her husband. I would love to read this one and see what I think of it. The Amish way of life fascinates me!
ReplyDeleteYou're right that it can be difficult to understand someone else's faith when it's so different from our own.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a thought provoking trilogy. The Amish way of life can be very different than as they refer to non Amish, the English.
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