Wanda Brunstetter's The Bishop's Daughter ~ Reviewed

The Bishop's Daughter
By Wanda Brunstetter
Published by Barbour Publishing, August 2006
ISBN: 1597890006

Leona is Bishop Jacob Weaver's daughter and a dedicated teacher in a one-room Amish schoolhouse. After her father's tragic accident, Leona's faith wavers. How could God allow something like this to happen to one of His servants?

Outlander Jimmy Scott comes to Pennsylvania in search of his real family. When he is hired to paint an Amish schoolhouse, Jimmy and Leona find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other.

Can anything good come from the love between an Amish woman and an English man? What secrets will be revealed and what miracles await God's people in Lancaster County?

I know I'm behind the times as I've never read a Beverly Lewis novel, so this was my first experience reading a novel about the Amish. It was a pleasurable journey for me. I loved the plot and the twists and turns. The characters were also well-developed. I think the author sprinkling in Amish words helped me to get a feel for their culture. It reminded me of a soap opera in that every time the secret was about to come out someone interrupted them. Can you say As the Amish World Turns? :)

Seriously, I really enjoyed this story. It was unique in many aspects and the conflict was good and seemed very realistic to me. I don't want to spoil it for the reader so I won't go into details by identifying the secret, but I'll just say that this story will put a smile on your face and bless you as you experience God's hand moving in the lives of the characters.

The Englisher's father's struggle with alcoholism was well developed and true-to-life as well, making this novel a page turner for me. Again, I loved how the secret almost came out about twenty times. I wanted to shout at the characters to stop interrupting them--the hero and heroine (like on the soaps when someone walks past them in a crowd who has been missing for years. You want to reach into the screen and turn the person's head.)

The Bishop's Daughter is listed as general fiction, but had just enough romance to satisfy me. (Did I mention it was a "sweet" romance? Those don't normally appeal to me, but this was so well done I enjoyed it anyway.) I highly recommend this novel, and now I wish I had read the first two books in the series as well.

Reviewed by Michelle Sutton (pen name)
Writing truth into fiction...digging deeper, soaring higher Great Beginnings finalist 2005 http://edgyinspirationalauthor.blogspot.com
Writer/fiction reviewer