Amy Lillard’s newest Amish novel, Courting Emily (Zebra
Books), is an exceptional book for Amish fiction fans. The novel is authentically written, and is
captivating with romance, conflicts, and inspiration. Of particular interest is the careful and
tender way in which Amy handles a brain injury victim. As always, it is inspiring how Amy writes of
the Amish coming together to help and forgive one another.
Emily Ebersol, in her early 20’s, has been in love with
Luke ever since they were schoolmates together and likewise, Luke loves
Emily. Emily is the bishop’s daughter
and feels the pressure of measuring up to his high standards for behavior. Luke feels a calling to leave the Amish
community behind and to live with the Englischers. Luke’s goal is to make a lot of money driving
racecars. He begs Emily to leave the
Amish behind and go with him to live among the Englisch but Emily has already
taken the kneeling vow. Luke has not been
baptized yet so he feels free to go as he wouldn’t be shunned if he came back
to the Amish.
Emily doesn’t know how she will go on with Luke
gone. He was her whole life. Her father reminds her that Luke brought
shame onto his family and Amish community by leaving. He advises Emily to move on and wisely tells
her to leave her heart open for a new man.
But Emily continues to pray that the lure of the Englisch world will dull
for Luke and that Luke will come home to their Amish community in Wells
Landing, Oklahoma. Will it be possible
for Luke keep his promise to return for Emily?
Bishop Ebersol decides to have a work frolic at the dairy
farm of James Riehl, an Amish father who suffered a severe brain injury in an
accident. James’ family have tried to
keep the farm going and keep James well cared for, but things aren’t like they
use to be when James was healthy.
Because of James brain injury, he sometimes seems more like a child than
an adult. This embarrasses the family;
they seem to want to keep James away from the public and hidden in his bedroom.
At the work frolic, Emily and James Riehl’s oldest son,
Elam have a confrontation. Elam objects
to the way Emily treats his father; Elam feels that his father needs to rest
and stay in his bedroom. Emily feels
that James needs to be around people, enjoy the sunshine and company. It seems that everything that Emily does,
Elam objects. Emily isn’t about to give
in to Elam and Elam isn’t about to stop protecting his father. Can these two start working together to help
James recover from his injury?
Courting Emily realistically works through Emily’s
feelings for both Luke and Elam with several convincing twists and turns before
the happy conclusion to the novel. Amy
Lillard beautifully weaves the theme of forgiveness throughout Courting Emily. This book will be published on January 6,
2015.
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