The powerful family saga of four Amish sisters whose way of life and faith in God are as enduring as Lancaster's signature horse and buggy. Or so it seems...
The Plain community of Gobbler's Knob holds everything courting-age Leah Ebersol has ever desired, including handsome young Jonas Mast. But a pact with her older sister, Sadie, lured by the outside world, leaves Leah clinging to the promise of a tomorrow that might never come.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Beverly Lewis, raised in Pennsylvania Amish country and both a schoolteacher and an accomplished musician, has been an award-winning author for over a dozen years. Her acclaimed novel, The Preacher's Daughter, was a 2006 Quill Book Award finalist in the romance category. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists, including USA Today and The New York Times. She and her husband, David, live in Colorado."
This is a beautifully written, compelling tale of the life of a young Amish girl. What I particularly appreciated in this novel is the author's understanding that the religion practiced by the Old Order Amish is not a saving faith in Christ alone for salvation. There are a ton of "Christian" Amish books out there whose authors equate the theology of the Amish with other, more mainstream Christian denominations and this simply cannot be done. Anyway, back to the point- this is a wonderful series and I was greatly moved by Lewis' characters.
ACH!!! Soooooo much better than I had thought, and the suspension this thing holds.... sheesh... it's driving me crazy. Really, really good for an Amish Romance!
I picked this book up at the library due to good reviews from my friends. At first I thought that the book might be a little too simply written to have any literary value to me... It was very easy and quick to read, but by the end of the book I was interested in the lives of the characters and will probably read the rest of the series to find out what happens. It was actually a nice "break" to read something that I didn't have to think about much. This is not to say that there is nothing to be learned from this book though. The anthropologist (or is it the peeping Tom) in me found it interesting to learn what life is like for this culture within our culture.
First in the series Abrams Daughters..loved it!! This got me hooked on the entire series! I love the Amish & this series is awesome! Feels like I'm living in Lancaster! :)
This is a coming of age story of 4 young Amish girls living in Lancaster County, PA. In the Amish community when a young person turns 16 they are officially allowed to date and they are encouraged to have fun and the rules are a little relaxed before they make their covenant with the church and the way of life of the “plain” people.
Sadie is the oldest girl of the family and wants to test the boundaries of her freedom and falls in love with a boy outside of the Amish society. Will she choose this young man and forsake her family and all she knows? Her younger sister, Leah is urging Sadie to forget the “English” boy because she doesn’t want any shame to fall on her family because her courting days are close.
I found myself identifying with these young women from such a different culture and enjoyed the book very much. It was an interesting look at the Amish people and their way of life. The end of the book left me with questions on what happened to the girls, so I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series.
"The Covenant" is the first book in the five book series, Abram's Daughters. To me, this book started out kind of slow and I wasn't really into the story, but after reading more it definitely got my attention. Once I was done reading this book I was ready to start book 2!
A review from my old blog... (joint review of The Covenant and The Sacrifice)
I found myself drawn into these books like I haven't been for a long time. Many of these books on my list are not books that I would normally read for pleasure. The reasons for that are various. Many of the books from the past week aren't my normal fare simply because I am a college graduate and not in elementary school or middle school. That's not to say that they aren't good books of course. Some of the other books fall outside my normal range because I have matured in my tastes in reading (books like that are all of the Gilbert Morris books). Even as I sit and write this review I can't wait to dive into the last book, the conclusion of this story and finally see Leah become Jonas' Leah.
I have always been intrigued by the Amish and reading Mrs. Lewis' books have often satisfied or intensified that curiosity. I also find it interesting how she deals with the question of the right way to find God and whether an Amish person can truly be a child of God. She doesn't have a pat answer for every character. For every character that rebels against the Old Order Amish ways and finds God outside the Amish church she has one that finds truth in the church but obviously more so than that... in a desire to serve God in the best way possible.
*Update* This book did not survive a second read. Once again, Mrs. Lewis avoided much of the egregious issues that plagued her early novels. However, this book continued to alternate between far too many characters in such rapid succession that the reader could not grasp the individual attributes of each character. It makes me wonder if Mrs. Lewis had a grasp on the individual attributes of her characters either. I almost read the remainder of the books in the series to see how things turned out but a quick read of the final few pages of the final book satisfied that curiosity. The entire series now sits on the bench waiting to be donated. Thus, none of Mrs. Lewis books remain in my collection.
I went into the library and said "I'm going to read an Amish book." I see them all the time, it's a genre I've never read, so I decided to finally try it. Boy, was this book horrendous.
One, there is no romance. As one of the heroines mentions, "lip kissin is for marriage." Look, I don't care if a romance novel doesn't have furious humping, but I expect there to be an emotional connection between romantic leads. There is none here. I think they eat popcorn together and ride a horse buggy at night and that equals love? Yup. Alright. Whatever.
But what bothered me most about this book is the message of blood sacrifice that it sent. SPOILERS AHEAD
Sadie, one of the Amish sisters, gets pregnant out of wedlock. Later, when she thinks her baby has died, she's all like "Ohhhh, I'm soooo sad, but when you break a vow to God you must pay with blood!" WHAT. What. wat. Holy hell, what kind of message is this sending to girls? You sinned! Expect your child to die! Or be severely mentally handicapped at the very least (which seems to be what will happen, but I refuse to read the sequels to find out.)
Ugh. Oh, it makes me angry. Plus, the girls aren't allowed to go to school higher than 8th grade. As an adult, you can choose to stop educating yourself. When you are in 8th grade YOU ARE TOO YOUNG. That is too young to stop school. How can they know for themselves at that point? By the way, the girl that got pregnant received an education higher than 8th grade on accident and so she became EVIL. This genre, as far as I can tell, is sexist. This book specifically is so sexist that I felt offended.
One final thing. There is a female character that likes doing "man's" work outside. One day, she sprains an ankle, sits inside for a few days, and realizes that she should be working in the kitchen instead of outside. So she starts training to be a housewife. Be cause cooking, sewing, and cleaning are the only things a woman really wants to do.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I read the whole series. It felt like the author wanted the family to all become Christians instead of following their own ways. This alone irritated me the most throughout the series as the author converted one family member after another.
Also for being as considerate and loyal to each other as the characters would seem one moment, they would turn around and do something completely opposite of that the next in order to make something dramatic happen or to drive characters even further apart. I understand that something has to happen in order for the story to be interesting, but to me it didn't seem realistic that one Amish family could get away with breaking so many of the community's rules and still be accepted within the community.
The series makes the religious leader seem like the villain for forcing citizens of the community to obey it's rules or face the consequences of breaking them. To me, this felt like an outsider's opinion, and it felt like it was coming from the author. I feel like a member of the community would understand the rules in which they grew up and probably defend them, not rail against them.
I was expecting to read something that felt more respectful of Amish culture.
A book in large print is always a delight. This was a moderately enjoyable read about an Amish family with all their problems and a fairly well kept secret. I really liked the people in the family with the exception of the father who seemed to meddle too much in Lizzie's love life. Sadie was the dare devil daughter who couldn't resist the good looking boy who wasn't Amish, but he certainly was a typical male player who thought only of himself. Lizzie was adorable, she was the keeper of the secret and was very caring towards everyone in the family. All in all, it was a very refreshing novel that helped you forget about your life and focus on a family with spiritual values.
I wasn’t a fan of the omniscient narrator telling me what everyone thought. I found it awkward. I liked it more than I thought I would, but I’m not interested in reading sequels.
I’m conflicted on how to rate this book. For most of this book I was thinking 2 stars. Its a much darker Amish book than what I usually read. But that’s on me, not the book. However, there was a plot twist around the 80% mark that makes me want to maybe give this a 3 start and then continue.
I loved this book as it gave insight into the Amish community! It makes me want to live a little more simply and not be burdened with all of the pressures we face. However, the Amish community has it's own pressures as each baptized member is expected to hold up to the doctrines taught within their faith. (I see a lot of similarities with our Mormon culture.) I warn you that when you get started on this series you will not want to stop and I think there are over a half dozen books!
Even though I read this book years ago, it was nice to reread this tale. It's a touching yet heartbreaking story for Sadie. A friend gave me her used books of this series. Lots of happy reading to come.
I absolutely loved this series. I found all the books at a charity shop, and I read them all in 3 days. I could not put them down. I am a sucker for historical Romance novels. Especially if they are tastefully done. I tend to find most of my favorites in the Christian section even though. Sometimes they can be a bit cheesy but not overly explicit leaves you to have an imagination. Her writing is easy to follow and you can picture it as a movie in your head which is what I love when reading.
I just love a simply nice story about family and an innocent life style 'back in the day'. I think I read Beverly's books when I was a lot younger, but it's been years ago.
I loved this book! I've been interested in the Amish and their culture since I read Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth, and read Beverly Lewis' debut novel The Shunning earlier this year. However, I felt a bit let down by Lewis' first novel - although it was compelling it was rather predictable and the character's didn't completely come to life for me. The Covenant, however, was very different and showed a vast improvement in Lewis' writing. The story centres around an Amish family with four daughters. The youngest, twins, don't feature a lot in the story although I'm sure their own stories will become more important later in the series - Mary Ruth wants to be a schoolteacher although this is not allowed in her community, and Hannah wants to be able to express her creativity and individuality and seems quite shy. The older sisters, Sadie and Leah are very different. Leah helps her father on the farm and is quite the tomboy until she reaches her courting years and wants to become more womanly in order to please her husband - who she hopes will be her seconc cousin, Jonas, and not the boy next door whose farmland her father covets. However, her older sister is a constant worry to her. Sadie constantly sneaks out to meet an Englisch boy who will ultimately break her heart. Their parents and aunt also feature in the story. Her mother suddenly becomes pregnant again and their father interferes with Leah's courtship with Jonas. Their maiden aunt, Lizzie, apparently has a secret surrounding her teenage years, which I hope will be revealed in the next book! The characters were very real and sympathetic. Although it takes a while to get into the book and warm to all the characters, I soon found myself hoping that Leah and Jonas would be allowed to continue their courtship and sympathising with Sadie after her beau leaves her. Normally I don't like silly, niave teenage girls but I could really understand how Sadie could allow herself to be used by an Englisch boy. The characters in this book were much easier to like than those in Lewis' first novel and I definitely want to continue reading the series. I also felt that I learnt more about the Amish and could understand some of their customs - even if some of their beliefs did not seem to be in line with scripture. I'm very much looking forward to reading the next book and would recommend this for people wanting to learn more about the Amish and looking for a simple but exciting story full of secrets. 9/10
"The Covenant" is book one in the Abram's Daughters series by Beverly Lewis. This story takes us to the heart of Amish country and into the home of Abram and Ida Ebersol, the parents of four daughters. "The Covenant" focuses mainly on the two older girls, Sadie and Leah. Sadie is in her rumschpringe, the running around period for Amish youth, in which they may experience the "English" way of life without facing the consequences of the Elders or risk being shunned. It's during this time that she falls for the handsome English boy, Derry with whom she carries on a sordid love affair. When the forbidden romance yields shocking results, Sadie is left alone to face the consequences of her actions and in the course of doing so she finds a confidant in her sister, Leah. This proves to be a great burden for them both and pushes them to the very limits of sisterly love.
Leah is a couple years younger and is known as "Abram's Leah" because she spends more time out of doors with her dad, helping with the outside chores since the family has no boys to do so. She enjoys her time out doors but she's also getting to an age where she has fallen in love and desires to become more womanly. She desires to join the church, marry and have babies. The very opposite of her sister, who has caught herself up in the sorrows of the world. Leah doesn't desire to drink or party or any of that stuff. She is fully committed to the love of her life, Jonas Mast, and she is determined to prove to her dad that he is the right choice in a husband.
The story progresses and we see Leah's unwavering love and support for sister and for her entire family. Unfortunately, you reap what you sew and Sadie's transgressions threaten to destroy this once loving family. Lives are in shambles and yet we still see a glimmer of hope for sweet Leah. If her dad doesn't meddle, that is. Abram is simply determined to do what he must to set Leah up with the boy he wants to see her to be with instead of with Jonas and it seems he may stop at nothing to have his way. Even if it means breaking his dear daughter's heart in the process.
This story is simply fantastic. It has drama, scandal, tragedy and a hint of a mystery! I cannot wait to finish reading the entire series to see how this story unfolds.
First off, I have a running challenge from a friend to read whatever romance novel she throws my way. (Avoid "Succubus in the City" and any Highlander-wolf themed romance. Made me want to burn a book for the first time in my life. Also avoid the time-traveling Viking who becomes a Navy SEAL series. Dumber than dumb times infinity. BTW: last year's challenges.) Her challenge for the new year: read an Amish romance. An AMISH romance....really.....this can't be right. Direct quote from me: "What can possibly happen?! Meaningful looks over a butter churn?" Yes, I was skeptical. I thought she was joking. Turns out there is a whole genre. Who knew? The book was written well enough for me to finish it. It did not detail Amish life enough for me. I grew up in Pennsylvania near Lancaster County, but moved when I was 10. I have always been fascinated with the minimalist lifestyle that the Amish embrace. It attempted to end with a cliffhanger, or the semblance of one, but did not entice me to want to read the next one. I could figure out what happened next by reading the summaries on amazon.com. I am happy to say that I didn't want to burn this book or slap any of its fans (unlike the aforementioned books).
This is the first book by Beverly Lewis that I have read. I have seen and enjoyed a movie based on another of her books. At first I was excited since the writing seemed to be more substantial than most of the other Amish fiction books I have read, unfortunately the writing style didn't hold through out the book. The first chapter or so almost seemed poetic. The rest of the book was still written well but not as well as the first chapter. I found the point of view and quick scene changes a little confusing. It could of just been the e-edition I was reading. More line spaces or some type of separation would have helped. While I liked the story I did find it to be somewhat gossipy and trivial for my taste. I found that I was reading faster to see what was going to happen but not really enjoying it. I didn't realize this was the first in a series until I finished it and I didn't like the hanging ending. I read enough of the reviews of the next four books in the series so I pretty much know what will happen. I'm not sure I have the patience to read the remaining books in the series. The story lines are just not interesting enough for me. Or it may be that I have read too many Amish fiction books in a row and I need to switch genres for a while.
My 5th book installment for the month of June 2010. Finished it last Monday. Reading The Betrayal right now, the second book in the Abram's daughter series. Also reading The Puritans by Jack Cavanaugh.
"I care not to be judge of right and wrong in men. I've often lost the way myself and may get lost again." A very profound phrase that I not only have to read again and again so that it can be absorb in its proper context.
It also reminds me how a lot of us think we know better than the next person when it comes to a lot of things but more so about what they are doing wrong. Then again the sad thing is we are not careful to look at our own faults first before condemning others for theirs.
Rebellion especially against the teaching of the bible can lead only to your own demise. And more often than not it will leave you with a colossal mistake that can never be reversed nor be nullified. It will also leave insurmountable hurts for the people you love but more than that you yourself could be hurt by this invalidation.
Think things through, Look before you Leap and all that adage, but more importantly ask yourself the best question ever: "Is this really wise?"
My mother talked me into reading Beverly Lewis's "The Covenant" even though I kept whining about a five book series (according to Mom, if I could read George R. R. Martin's ASOIAF series, I could read this). Needless to say, she won, and now I have begun the second book in Lewis's Abrams Daughters Series, "The Betrayal", so, yes, I read book one, got hooked, and am now reading the second book in the series.
I really enjoy reading about Leah Ebersol and her sisters, though I sometimes think Sadie needs a good swift kick to the hiney. There is just enough mystery in this series to keep my interest piqued and the characters are very human and relatable. Unfortunately, I still have a bit of a problem remembering which twin is which at this moment, but that's because I'm a bit of am airhead when it comes to names of background characters in books.
Overall, I am really enjoying this series and will continue to read it.