The Shunning

Beverly Lewis has to be the best author i've ever read, and i read a lot! She will captivate you immediately and you wont be able to stop reading. The Shunning is incredible, and a must read for everybody...as is all her books!

Each book I have read written by Beverly Lewis is so interesting. She helps us see inside the Amish way of life which is not as simple as we might think.

I just finished this book last night, and I cannot wait to get the second book! Beverly Lewis is one of my favorie authors, and "The Shunning" is a great book. You really feel like you get to know Katie and understand her struggles and heartbreak. If you enjoy a good story, then you must read "The Shunning" (and the "Annie's People" series too!)

I really just enjoyed this book.My heart really went out to Katie as well as her family and close friends.I have learned so much about the"Amish"way of life through reading this book.I checked this book out from my local, public libary and have already purchased "The Confession and The Reckoning."The Shunning" is a fabulous read and I highly recommend it to anyone.Can't wait to read the other 2 books.

I am an avid reader and lover of Amish history. These 2 passions drew me to a display containing "The Shunning" when we were traveling and stopped to eat at a little restaurant-gift shop. I just had to get up from my meal and take a look at the book. I was so interested I had to read it. The characters were exciting people, individual in spite of being identical! Katie especially intrigued me! She was so fiesty, so different, opinionated, yet family oriented. How could she expect to be happy at any one place when the whole world called to her? I felt empathy for Katie's Amish parents because having a daughter like her surely was a test in their community! Yet, I felt Katie's pain...her uncertainty...her desires...what part in her longterm future would Mary play? How could Katie endure without Dan, her soul mate? How could she marry a man she did not love? Why must she be forced to live without the beautiful, soothing music she adored? Was it sin, or simply protocol? It was easy to keep switching my loyalty from one group to the other...they all had some good ideas. I thought I understood Katie and her inquisitive nature, yet I wanted to scold her for being ungrateful and even spiteful to her parents at times. I seemed to have love-hate for one person, then another! I think this author, Bev Lewis, surely must have an interesting life....how else could she think of so many wonderfully surprising events? For a book that led one to think it was going to be about a fairly dull family, living in a fairly dull town, with fairly dull ideals, there certainly was a trememdous amount of excitement nontheless! People DID have feelings, they DID experience emotions, and Katie Lapp was determined to live them in addition to just feeling them! There are issues here that are presented so well, love and marriage, family life, faith, obedience to parents, loyalty, adoption, trust, life and death, grief and mourning, traditions, ways of life...and all of these are wrapped around one tiny, pink satin baby gown! When I saw I was on the last page, I was stricken....NO, THIS CANNOT BE ENDING...there is so much I do not know yet! What will happen to..what if...when will...why didn't....maybe they...if only.... I did not rest a moment until book number 2 was in my hands! I so fully appreciate the author's portrayal of the love of God, His plan of salvation and especially the individuality of each person in spite of their surroundings! Thanks, Bev!