Although proud of living apart from the world, Marianna Sommer’s newly relocated Amish family is discovering that life in the remote mountains of Montana requires working together with the Englisch. As Marianna pours her life into helping those around her-and receiving their help-her heart further considers two directions. She’s torn between the Amish man from Indiana whom she has long planned on marrying and the friendly Englischer who models a close walk with God like she’s never seen before.
Who should have young Marianna’s heart? What is God asking of her through ongoing family struggles and this romantic and spiritual tension? The answer is found along the wooded paths.
Tricia Goyer is the author of thirty books including Songbird Under a German Moon, The Swiss Courier, and the mommy memoir, Blue Like Play Dough. She won Historical Novel of the Year in 2005 and 2006 from ACFW, and was honored with the Writer of the Year award from Mt. Hermon Writer’s Conference in 2003. Tricia’s book Life Interrupted was a finalist for the Gold Medallion in 2005. In addition to her novels, Tricia writes non-fiction books and magazine articles for publications like MomSense and Thriving Family. Tricia is a regular speaker at conventions and conferences, and has been a workshop presenter at the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International Conventions. She and her family make their home in Little Rock, Arkansas where they are part of the ministry of FamilyLife.
My Impressions:
Along Wooded Paths is the second book in the Big Sky series. (Please read Beside Still Waters (book #1) first — these books build on each other and you will lose something of the story if you don’t.) It presents the continuing story of Marianna Sommer and her spiritual and emotional growth. Marianna left Indiana for Montana to help with her Amish family. She left behind a young man and all that made her feel secure. But the move freed her from a past not her own and the legalism that restricted her worship. In Montana, she finds an Amish community much more comfortable in relationships with the English. She also finds a God of relationships she never knew.
In Along Wooded Paths, Marianna has discovered the rich life of prayer and communion with God that the Bishops in her old community never spoke of. She also uncovers a heart of compassion for people of all faiths and circumstances. But with the assurance that she is finally in the place God wants her, she is unsure where God is leading her heart. Aaron, her boyfriend from Indiana, arrives unexpectedly and her budding romance/friendship with an Englishman, Ben, is put in a new perspective. All in all Marianna is faced with lots of decisions sure to effect her life — decisions about love, marriage, family, and faith.
Goyer’s characters are well-written and believable. The story flows well, and the reader is left with a sense that the story is only beginning. Fortunately, I have only a few months to wait before Beyond Hope’s Valley (book #3) arrives! I am really looking forward to finding out the rest of the story.
Highly Recommended.
(Thanks to Broadman and Holman for the review copy of Along Wooded Paths. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)
I would love a chance to read this. It sounds like a really great story.
helldog3 at aol.com
I think my wife would love to read this.
Sounds great to me. rovifun@hotmail.com
Sounds like a good book. lakewalker34@yahoo.com
I’m really keen on reading more about the Amish- it just seems really hard to find.
neeuqfonafamai(at)googlemail(dot)com
Count me in please!
brtucker89(at)gmail(dot)com