After a devastating wildfire sweeps through her town, one young Amish woman is shown a different way to practice her faith . . . but pursuing it could cost her everything she holds dear, including the man she loves.
Nora Beachy loves her life. She works in the community store in West Kootenai, takes care of her family and courts with Levi Raber. She and Levi plan to marry, but Levi wants to wait until he has the money to buy them a house before he pops the question. Nora doesn't want to wait. Is there something keeping Levi from marrying her?
Nora’s peaceful existence is swept away when wildfires threaten her family’s home. She’s forced to evacuate to Libby where she stays with family in an Amish community that embraces a charismatic style of worship rejected by her own parents and the Kootenai district elders. Nora’s drawn to the emotional, powerful style of worship, the musical instruments, and the more relaxed lifestyle. She knows she’s headed for a shunning if she doesn’t stop breaking the rules, but she can’t understand why both forms of worship aren’t lovely in God’s eyes.
Nora's stuck in the middle. She loves her family and doesn't want to lose them. She loves Levi. But she must make a decision: return to her traditional Amish life or embrace this new way of worshipping and living. Will she sacrifice her relationship with Levi and her family for a different kind of faith?
-Review-
A fire spreads an Amish community far and wide, and one woman finds her way of life tested in “Peace in the Valley” by Kelly Irvin.
When Nora goes to stay with distant relatives as the families work to restore the community after the fire, she finds life with her grandparents to be much different than home. Her grandparents, uncle and cousins have all taken to a more “English” way of life, including phones in the house, driving cars and church services are much different. Nora is pulledalong into their church’s way, but she feels her old way of life calling her back, including her boyfriend, Levi. Will she stay in hernew life or go back to herold one?
This is a good story about a girl questioning her way of life and faith and has romance in it as well. The author seems to be winding up this series, so it will be interesting to see where she goes next.
“Peace in the Valley” is published by Zondervan.
