Review of "Meek and Mild"

Review of Meek and Mild

by Olivia Newport

The leadership in an Old Order Amish community requires shunning friends and family whose only offense is to embrace the new Protestant practice of Sunday school among the Mennonites, but teaching Bible stories to children is one of Clara Kuhns’ great joys. Clara’s on the verge of saying yes to Andrew Raber’s marriage proposal, but now he is flagrantly refusing to submit to the bishop’s authority by owning a car. When the lot falls to Moses Beachy to become the new bishop, the community waits for him to take bold steps toward change. Clara and Andrew step together into a more progressive Amish faith as the Beachy Amish take form.

MY REVIEW:   Clara Kuhn loves Andrew Raber but a very real and very important fear is keeping her from saying "yes" to his proposal of marriage.   Clara has grown up without a mother, and did not gain her stepmother until she was around 9 years old.  She had felt close to her stepmother in the past, but for some unexplained reason, that is changing.  Clara feels abandoned, hurt and betrayed.    Who can she talk to about her unnamed fear?   Will she be able to pray and seek God's wisdom and direction?  She is even having a difficult time with prayer at the moment.   

        We all know that the Amish shun members of the Amish church if they break the Ordnung.  Imagine having to shun members of your deceased mother's family?   Can she do it?  Will she shun her aunt and cousin who have been like a mother and sister to her all her life?   Andrew, the man she loves, has an English car and could be shunned by the church for ownership of a worldly automobile.    What would that mean to their relationship?  Can she bear the possibility of one more loved one being shunned?   

        I felt deep emotions as I read this book.   I can not imagine having to shun my family.   I admire many things about the Amish, but shunning is one practice that I do not agree with.  It does not seem to show unconditional love to me.   I do not think it is biblical.  It seems to be highly legalistic.   I rated this book 5 stars and highly recommend it to readers.  

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

About the Author:

Olivia Newport's novels twist through time to find where faith and passions meet. She chases joy in Colorado, where daylilies grow as tall as she is. Her husband and two twenty-something children provide welcome distraction from the people stomping through her head on their way into her books.