The Mercy

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing The Mercy Bethany House (September 6, 2011) by Beverly Lewis



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

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."



Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."



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."



ABOUT THE BOOK

Rose Kauffman pines for prodigal Nick Franco, the Bishop's foster son who left the Amish under a cloud of suspicion after his foster brother's death. His rebellion led to the "silencing" of their beloved Bishop. But is Nick really the rebel he appears to be? Rose's lingering feelings for her wayward friend refuse to fade, but she is frustrated that Nick won't return and make things right with the People. Nick avowed his love for Rose--but will he ever be willing to sacrifice modern life for her?



Meanwhile, Rose's older sister, Hen, is living in her parents' Dawdi Haus. Her estranged "English" husband, injured and helpless after a car accident, has reluctantly come to live with her and their young daughter during his recovery. Can their marriage recover, as well? Is there any possible middle ground between a woman reclaiming her old-fashioned Amish lifestyle and thoroughly modern man?



If you would like to read the first chapter of The Mercy, go HERE.



Watch the book trailer:






The Mercy by Beverly Lewis is the final book in The Rose Trilogy about Rose Kauffman, a young Amish woman struggling to let go of her feelings for a man who has left the faith behind. The Kauffman family has faced many challenges over the previous books. Rose's elder sister Hen left her Englischer husband to return to the faith she left. Just as he was about to divorce her and file for custody of their daughter, he was in a car accident that left him temporarily blind and in need of Hen's care. Emma, Rose's mother, is facing dangerous surgery to free her from the pain she's suffered for a decade. And Sol, Rose's father, is hurting at his friend Aaron Petersheim's removal as bishop of their community because his foster son, Nick, refused to be baptized into the faith. Rose has finally put her feelings for Nick behind her and seeks out a relationship with a new man, Isaac, in hopes of finally finding the life she has always dreamed of as a wife and mother. I read a lot of Amish series, and after awhile, many of the plots and characters tend to run together. The Rose Trilogy is such a powerful story, even after several months between books, I was able to fall right back into the story. Lewis does a wonderful job of creating fully fleshed characters with real flaws and emotions that readers can empathize with. The ending to the series is very satisfying and in many ways surprising.