"The Covenant" by Beverly Lewis

Amish community members and their horse drawn buggies are a rather common sight in Holmes County, Ohio, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Indiana. However Englishers (non-Amish people) who know little about Amish culture and society often wish to find out more about their simple and peaceful way of life. One easy way for them to become enlightened about the Amish way of life is to read novels written by Beverly Lewis, who is a well recognized author of inspirational Amish fiction. For this month’s inspirational title I read The Covenant, the first book in Lewis’ Abram’s Daughters series.

The Covenant focuses on the family life of Abram Ebersol and his wife who are raising four teenage daughters (Sadie, Leah, Hannah and Mary Ruth) in Lancaster County, PA just after World War II. They want each of the girls to be baptized in the Church and make a covenant with God. First, however, each girl must experience “rumschpringe”—the period during which rules are relaxed and an adolescent is involved in “running around” before committing to the church. Sadie (age 19) is in the middle of “rumschpringe” and becomes involved with an Englisher boy, ends up pregnant, and is deserted by him. Leah (age16) is reluctant to marry the young man that her father has selected for her; rather she has her eye on a boy she considers to be her sweetheart. In the end, each girl must decide on her own path to the Church and God.

This novel is definitely for readers looking for wholesome entertainment and inspiration. I personally found it to be quite interesting as far as insight into Amish faith and lifestyle are concerned. It could even be considered as a teen romance—even though it is a bit on the sappy side. The writing style is simple. The plot is predictable. The characters are not very well developed. The text is dotted with Amish dialect (ach, Dat, jah) which I sometimes found annoying even though I realize that the author was attempting to insert familiar Amish phrases into the book’s dialogue. But I would recommend The Covenant and the other four in the Abram’s Daughters series to anyone interested in Amish culture and religion or to anyone interested in a light (teen) romance.