Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Marriage for Meghan-Mary Ellis

Marriage for Meghan
Mary Ellis
Harvest House, Oct 1 2011, $13.99
ISBN: 9780736930109

In Shreve, Ohio, Mrs. Joanna Kauffman will soon have to leaver her position as the teacher at the Old Order District Amish School due to her pregnancy. Nineteen year old intelligent but immature Meghan Yost wants the job. However, the Elders including her father the bishop has doubts that flighty Meghan can control a class when she cannot control her own impulses. They decide to give her a chance when her older sister Catherine agrees to come home to serve as the head teacher with Meghan as her assistant while waiting for her betrothed Isaiah to complete school in Kentucky.

As the siblings learn on the job, Meghan alienates her best friend Jacob Schultz who wants to court her. Additionally someone vandalizes Amish property and the school is trashed, which leads Wayne County Englisher Sheriff Strickland and FBI Agent Mast to investigate the hate crimes.

The second Wayne County tale (see Abigail’s New Hope) is a wonderful look at the Amish culture as for instance the Bishop upsets his peers when he calls in the outsider to investigate the attacks and Meghan’s brothers turn the other cheek against an assault. The story line is character driven by Meghan but ably supported by her family, her former beau, the students and several Englisher. Although the villain’s motives are left passive, fans will enjoy the return visit to the Yost family.

Harriet Klausner

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