"A Daughter's Burden"

Just at the age that Naomi Fisher, a local girl in Lancaster, Pennsylvania should be courting and thinking of marriage and a family of her own, a tragedy occurs. Her mother is killed by an automobile when she goes out to collect the mail and in a matter of seconds, Naomi must take her mothers place as the woman of the family. This entails cooking, cleaning, watching out for her seven brothers and sisters and helping out at the family store. It seems that Naomi has no life at all and yet no one shows an ounce of appreciation. Her father is too tied up in his own grief over his wife and the huge amount of responsibility left on his shoulders to realize the burden that Naomi carries. Now he has even refused to allow one of the local amish men to court her.

On a hot, summer day Naomi is helping to sell the families homemade root beer at the end of the driveway, when she hears a scream from inside the house. Thinking only of what could be going on inside, she leaves the customer waiting and her baby brother sitting on the picnic table. In those few seconds, her brother will disappear from their lives forever and Naomi's bleak life will only go downhill. Every member of her family seems to blame her for the loss of Zach.

In order to escape her families blame and the responsibilities left behind by her mother, Naomi will take her English friend up on her offer to see the world. It is only after her disappearance that her father truly begins to understand exactly what he has done. His own grief and despair have now cost him two of his children.

Naomi meanwhile must learn that the English world is not at all what she expected and soon she longs for home. With faith a huge part of what ties this family together, they will all have to learn to forgive and to move on.

Those of you who love Amish stories will quickly immerse yourself in this first book in a new series DAUGHTERS OF LANCASTER COUNTY. I almost felt like I had stepped back in time to my own visit to Lancaster a few years ago. Brunstetter does a wonderful job with describing the people and the land that make up this special place. I was especially impressed by the Amish dialect she used throughout the course of the book. It is obvious extensive knowledge goes into each book she writes. I'll be counting down the days and minutes until the second book in the series hits the stands.

Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

Reviewed by Shelby Bagby
Posted June 6, 2005