A Gift of Grace

Title: A GIFT OF GRACE
Author: Amy Clipston
Publisher: Zondervan
May 2009
Genre: Inspirational/women’s fiction/Amish

When Rebecca Kauffman’s sister dies prematurely, Rebecca’s tranquil Old Order Amish life is disrupted when she finds she’s been named guardian for her two teenage nieces—both very modern “English.” Rebecca and her husband Daniel have tried for years to conceive a child, unsuccessfully, but now they find themselves instant parents.

Jessica and Lindsay don’t know quite what to think about landing on the “set of Little House on the Prairie” and don’t take kindly to the changes. Well, some of them. Lindsay is more than thrilled with quitting school to work in a bakery, since she’s past the eighth grade. But Jessica is resistant to the Amish ways and chaffs at being forced to work in a furniture store when she wants to graduate and go on to college to become an accountant.

With Rebecca being forced to raise two teenagers who are not of her faith, the strain causes problems between Rebecca and Daniel. Instead of the beautiful family Rebecca dreamed of, now she finds her world being torn apart. Will her faith in God be able to see her through?

A GIFT OF GRACE is the first book in Ms. Clipston’s Kauffman Amish Bakery series, and the debut novel by this talented author. In a way, A GIFT OF GRACE seems like the polar opposite of Beverly Lewis’s novel, The Redemption of Sarah Cain, as instead of Amish children being forced to be raised by an “English” guardian, we have “English” children being raised by an Amish guardian.

Like most of America, I enjoy reading about the Amish lifestyle, and found the struggles that the children went through to adjust to this new way of living realistic, although both Daniel and Rebecca were very lenient with their nieces, allowing them to keep their modern conveniences, though they would have to find way to charge their modern gadgets elsewhere since the Amish don’t have electricity.

I am looking forward to reading more books in this series, set in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. $10.99. 332 pages.

IMPORTANT LINKS:
A Gift of Grace on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0310289831
Amy Clipston’s Website: http://amyclipston.com
Amy Clipston’s Blog: http://amyclipston.blogspot.com
Amy Clipston’s Facebook Profile: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Clipston/33955140823
List of all participating bloggers: http://blogtourspot.com/clipston-blog-tour/clipston-blog-tour-stops