I had reviewed Book Three in the Ada’s House Series by Cindy
Woodsmall in 2011, so I was glad for the opportunity to read “the rest of the
story” in Hope Crossing, the
complete Ada’s House trilogy, containing The
Hope of Refuge, The Bridge of Peace,
and The Harvest of Grace.
Book One was an introduction to the characters in an Amish
community in Pennsylvania. All of the
characters have some connection to Ada, a widow who mentors young women and
starts a bakery business. Ada’s only son
has left the community suddenly, leaving his fiancé, Deborah, without answers. Deborah’s
brother, Ephraim Mast befriends and rescues an outsider who has family roots in
this community. Due to lies told about
her mother, Cara Moore did not get to grow up Amish. When her young mother died and her father
abandoned her, Cara was abused by the foster care system in New York. She ran away from that abuse and ended up
being stalked by a “brother” from one of the foster homes. When her husband and protector died, she and
her child had to keep running from the dangerous stalker. Through God’s mercy, she found her way to Dry
Lake where her mother’s family still lived.
Because she was a worldly outsider, everyone but Ephraim treated her
with suspicion and distrust. Ephraim’s
befriending her led to his being shunned.
He felt God directing him to show Christ to Cara, no matter what
consequences he suffered.
Book Two continues Cara and Ephraim’s story, but also
focuses on the local Amish school teacher, Lena, who suffers from low
self-esteem because of a prominent birthmark on her face. She cares deeply about her students, but
sometimes bends the Amish rules to get help for them. She is on probation with the school board
when a young man in the community decides she needs to be removed from her
position. He plots, harasses, and
escalates into sabotage to cause harm and even death, for which Lena gets
blamed and loses her job. Lena goes
through much pain, but continues to reach out and help others, while learning
to accept the disfiguring birthmark without allowing it to define her.
The themes of forgiveness and restoration are prominent in Book
Three. Sylvia Fisher has violated her
own code of conduct. She feels no
forgiveness from God, so she runs away to have a new life in another
community. Keeping her guilt a secret,
she buries herself in hard work. She
comes into conflict with a man who has found forgiveness from God, but is
trying desperately to receive forgiveness and restoration with his parents.
At the same time, Cara Moore, who has found safety and love
among the Amish community, finds it difficult to “measure up” to the Amish
requirements of learning Pennsylvania Dutch and being a submissive,
quiet-spirited woman so she can marry Ephraim Mast. One requirement is that she forgives and has a
relationship with her father who abandoned her when she was a child.
Cindy Woodsmall is an excellent writer. There are so many characters to meet in these
books, and it really helped to read the trilogy through at once to be able to get to
know all their connections and keep them straight. Along the way, I learned more about how the
Amish community functions. Woodsmall has
Amish advisers for each book, so that gives me confidence that she knows what
she is writing.
Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers provided me with a
complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this e-book for my Kindle free
from the publisher through the Blogging for books program. I was not required to write a positive
review. The opinions I have expressed
are my own. I am disclosing this in
accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CRF, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements
and Testimonials in Advertising.”
