Story Description:
Ravaged by disease, preyed upon by ruthless bandits, the Bender family’s second year in Mexico has taken a grievous turn. Faced with impossible choices, the expatriate Amish discover, more than ever before, what it means to live by faith and not by sight.
But it’s Miriam who must make the hardest choice as her heart takes her on a new and dangerous course. Domingo. “He is gentle,” his sister said, “until someone he loves is threatened.” Is Miriam that someone?
“Cualnezqui,” he often calls her – the Nahuatl word for Beautiful one. The chiseled native has proven himself a man of principle, grace, and power. Yet is he the pearl of great price for whom Miriam would sacrifice everything, or is he merely a friend? Tormented by conflicting emotions, she’s haunted by vivid dreams: Dressed in the coarse cotton pants and shirt of a peasant, she stands on the precipice of a sun-washed ridge searching desperately for Domingo. Domingo the fierce. Domingo the protector. Domingo the forbidden.
This epic story was inspired by actual events!
My Review:
I stayed up all night and read this in one sitting I was totally riveted to the story of the Amish Bender family who were spending their second year in Mexico. Fighting off bandits and disease they sacrificed, hoped, stayed steadfast and prayed. Their biggest challenge was learning to live by faith.
Miriam, one of their daughters was in love with Domingo, a strikingly handsome native who was not Amish and if Miriam ever married him she would be shunned by her family. Domingo was a gentle man until someone he loved was threatened and when that very thing happens he goes to all lengths to save the one he too secretly loves.
The vividness of the imagery in the novel made me feel as though I was there, stomping through the dusty ground, feeling the grit in my nose and eyes. I could see the mountains, the crops, the buildings and felt as if I were right there.
One particular attack by bandits left Miriam’s sister Rachel kidnapped, her brother Aaron stabbed and left for dead, and simple-minded Ada was left to care for the baby. Ada was like a baby herself even though she was a grown woman. What she went through to find her way home toting a 30 pound child was truly engrossing, I couldn’t read fast enough. Staggering in the pitch dark, not knowing where she might fall off the edge of a cliff she walked, crawled and felt her way along the open expanse. Once surrounded by a pack of coyotes her only weapon was a harmonica the child had in his pocket. Blowing loud notes only scared them off for so long.
This is one of the best novels I’ve read this year and would highly recommend it to everyone!
"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".
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