Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Leaving Lancaster


Title: LEAVING LANCASTER
Author: Kate Lloyd
Publisher: David C. Cook
March 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7814-0508-9
Genre:  Amish/women’s fiction

Can a splintered Amish family reconcile?

More than anything else, thirty-something Holly Fisher longs for family. Growing up in Seattle without a dad or grandparents, she wonders what it would be like to have a heritage, a place of belonging. Holly is furious when her mother, Esther, reveals a long-kept secret: Holly’s grandmother and uncles are still alive and begging Esther to return. And Holly is shocked when she learns that the family she’s never known lives on a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, farm—as part of an Amish community her mother once abandoned.

Guilt-ridden Esther, terrified to see her mother and siblings, begs Holly to accompany her on a visit to Esther’s mother before she dies. But can their journey to a conflicting world heal their emotional wounds and finally bring them home?

LEAVING LANCASTER is the first book I’ve read by Kate Lloyd. I’d read some good comments about her books on the Amish fiction boards on Facebook, so I was anxious to give it a try.  

I found the characters in LEAVING LANCASTER were middle age middle-schoolers. They acted very immature, were angry and spiteful. The mother lied about her past, and then continued lying after she returned home to make amends. However--that was the point of the story--the characters all had  a lot of maturing to do.

Written in alternating first person/third person makes it a bit difficult to stay in the story. And some of the events were implausible.

However, those who enjoy women’s fiction more than traditional romance might enjoy this take on the Amish life—why someone would leave and then return. If you like Amish fiction, don’t take my word for it. Try LEAVING LANCASTER for yourself. Includes discussion questions at the end of the book. $14.99. 369 pages.





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