Review of "Wonderful Lonesome"

Review of Wonderful Lonesome

by Olivia Newport

In a struggling Amish settlement on the harsh Colorado plain, Abbie Weaver refuses to concede defeat to hail, drought, and coyotes, even as families begin to give up and return east. The biggest challenge of all is the lack of a spiritual shepherd and regular worship. When Abbie discovers the root of a spiritual divide that runs through the settlement, she faces her own decisions about what she believes. She must choose between a quiet love in her cherished church, passion with a man determined to leave the church, or imagining her life with neither.

MY REVIEW:  Abigail, or Abbie, Weaver is quite dedicated to her Amish faith and the struggling Colorado settlement.   She is making a quilt with pieces from each family in the settlement and praying for them as she stitches.   Many begin leaving the settlement though.  They have no Amish bishop and none will even visit them.   They are all "wonderful lonesome" for the fellowship of the worship service and the guidance of a bishop.   Jake, a Mennonite minister, arrives in the settlement and even camps out at one of the cabins to care for the animals on the farm of one of the Amish couples where the husband is quite ill and confined to his bed.   But Abigail is not sure that one can be saved outside of the Amish faith.   She encourages the people to stay and she desperately wants the community to flourish.   She has two men who care for her deeply.   What decision will she make?  Will the settlement take root and grow or will it die?  This is a 5-Star Amish fiction!  

I received a copy of this book from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.  

About the Author:

Olivia Newport lives in Colorado and has two twenty-something adult children.  She is fascinated with the Amish settlements that struggled over one-hundred years ago to make a go of it.   She has invested considerable time and effort into researching these communities.