Eyes at the Window

This will keep you guessing to the end, I loved it, awesome insight to the Amish way of thinking and living. I am waiting and watching for E. Y. Miller to do it again.

On the Pennsylvania frontier in 1810, Amish pioneers Yost and Eliza Hershberger lose their 7-month-old daughter to murder. Who would slip into their cabin long after midnight, while the young couple and Eliza's visiting sister Polly are out tending the sugar maples, and smother an infant to death? While leaving the two older girls unharmed? The guessing begins when Polly remembers twice seeing eyes at the cabin's window. First before the three adults left the cabin, and again after their discovery of the murdered baby. Although the frightened young woman can tell her brother-in-law almost nothing that might put a name to the person behind those eyes, Yost takes what little she does say and quickly builds it into an assumption: the murderer must be his brother Reuben. A jury of 12 Amish men soon declares Reuben Hershberger guilty of causing little Marie Hershberger's death, and the local bishop pronounces sentence. Reuben must be shunned. Over the next 50 years, Reuben Hershberger steadfastly insists on his innocence. Anna, his beloved wife, stands by him as best she can; but even she must obey the church, which for her means sharing his bed without allowing conjugal relations. That deprives them both of the large family that their culture requires - the two children they already have must be their last. They relocate to the Ohio frontier, but Reuben's supposed guilt follows them. Other Amish from their Pennsylvania county also move to Ohio, and that makes any real change in their social isolation impossible. Evie Yoder Miller strutures her novel as a first-person narrative in the separate voices of eight different characters. Chapter by chapter, the narrator changes and so does the reader's perspective. The 50-year mystery that supplies the book's plot isn't its real point, although that's handled well enough. Where EYES AT THE WINDOW really shines is in its fascinatingly detailed portrait of Amish life in the 19th Century; and in its sobering, entirely believable portrayal of what the characters' unjust assumptions do, not only to falsely accused Reuben but also to his accusers and the entire community that administers his punishment. A rich and thought-provoking read!

This story covers over 50 years reviewing the lives of various people connected in someway to the murder of a 7 month old baby in 1810. Although at times it does seem a little drawn out (the books is over 500 pages long), it does an excellent job with character development and gives the reader a sense of how these people lived their lives. There is a family tree at the back of the book that helps with all the offspring names. I referred to this many times reading the book. There is also a glossary that defines the German words used. The author does a wonderful job portraying Amish life in the 1800s. How difficult life must have been. There certainly was much premature death. The author explains how she did a lot of research into the families when preparing to write this book, which included reading grave stones. I really enjoyed how Anna, the wife of Reuben (who was falsely accused), was portrayed. She was an example of one who trusted God, believed the best in people, and was someone who supported and cared for her husband at the expense of herself. This couple sacrificed so much as a result of this error. Upon reading this book it makes one more reluctant to jump to conclusions and to judge others before knowing all the facts. This book highlighted the fact that the Amish religion has ones who are humble and ones who are proud (which is true of all Christian religions). There were some kindhearted, forgiving ones who loved people and wanted to serve, and others who were self-righteous, legalistic, and unforgiving. It was also interesting how some of the characters were unsure whether they "would make it to heaven". Clearly there was much legalism practiced. Thankfully there were some who knew that salvation is not based on works but in trusting what Jesus has done on the cross. No one is guaranteed salvation based on any church membership and definitely not on what you can offer God through your good deeds. It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus' dying on the cross for our sins. My only disappointment with the book was that there wasn't complete closure at the end. We aren't sure whether Reuben ever meets with the true murderer or whether he meets up with any of Yost's offspring. Otherwise, it is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it.

I loved this book. Being a Mennonite in Cleveland Ohio who also has family in the Wooster area, I especially enjoyed reading about the history of the settlement of the area by the Amish moving from Pennsylvania to Ohio. I was amused by the comments in the story that "knocked" the Mennonites. I learned some more about some of the beliefs that I was taught growing up. I felt like I was part of the community because I was so familiar with most of the culture. I liked how the story was told by the different characters. It was that much more interesting to be seen from different viewpoints. I highly recommend this book.

Set in the Pennsylvania and Ohio Amish community between 1810 and 1861, Miller's first novel centers on the unsolved murder of an infant (which actually happened), and the shunning of the suspect. Told in the voices of eight characters in alternating chapters, the story illuminates their patriarchal family- and church-centered lives, the daily privations and hardships of pioneering farmers and, as the world begins to intrude, community turmoil.The baby is the third daughter of Eliza and Yost Hershberger. Her death occurs deep on a March night, after midnight concludes the Sabbath and the family, at Yost's insistence, hurriedly rigs the sugaring apparatus. When they return, the baby is dead, suffocated under her parents' mattress. Polly, Eliza's younger sister, visiting to help with the baby, thought she saw a figure in the window earlier. Yost, extracting hazy details, seizes on her vague description of a jacket to denounce his brother, Reuben, as the murderer.Though Reuben proclaims his innocence, the community sides with Yost, and church leaders formally decree Reuben's shunning. Even his wife, who loves him and knows his innocence, obeys the church and ends their sexual life. There will be no more children - a public proclamation in a culture of large families. Placed outside church and family, Reuben at first remains proud and steadfast, then moves to the new frontier in Ohio to try and start again, and finally drowns his sorrows in whiskey when the shunning persists.Reuben's failure to confess is like a festering thorn in the church community. It worries at Bishop Isaac's self-doubts and hardens Yost's unreflective determination. It divides families in small unspoken ways and divides family branches between staunch hardliners and wavering sympathizers. These tendencies are reflected through the years as the shunning fades into the background, its reasons forgotten by youngsters, and the church confronts the changing times, often by splitting into angry factions.Miller's prose is simple and unadorned, like the people she animates. Over the decades her narrators work, love, and live within their religion. They withstand the heartbreaking deaths of babies and siblings and parents and spouses, and then die themselves. Their lives are hard, and hard work is a primary virtue. But there is happiness too. Families are close and love the life they've chosen. Religion is the core of their community and it brings them together, though the world threatens.Miller's portrayal is full of sympathy and understanding. She brings the Amish to life from the inside, details emerging in the course of daily life. An affecting, absorbing debut.