The Judgment

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1. Christy Lockstein  •  May 1, 2011 @1:04 pm
   

   The Judgment by Beverly Lewis is the second book in the Rose Trilogy. Rose Kauffman’s Amish community is still recovering from the tragic death of Bishop Aaron Petersheim’s son, Christian and foster son Nick Franco’s running away. Rose’s friendship with Nick makes her one of the few people not blaming Nick for Christian’s death, but she’s trying to focus on her new engagement to Silas Good. Elder sister Hen has returned home to live with her daughter Mattie Sue leaving her Englischer husband, Brandon, behind. But he’s furious over Hen’s seeming betrayal and is beginning to file for divorce and full custody of Mattie Sue. Hen and Rose’s mother Emma is still battling crippling pain from a decade old back injury, and the suffering seems to be leading her toward death. This historical Amish story, it takes place in 1985, is thoroughly compelling. Lewis shows that the Amish face the same problems the rest of us do: loving the wrong person, the death of a child, facing tragedy and pain, divorce and broken marriage. The difference is that these characters do it all while trying to remain within the will of God, making their decisions complex and often incredibly difficult. Hen is a bit wishy-washy, but she comes across as very real. How would an Amish woman who has married an Englisch man in haste, deal with the natural differences that arise in marriage? How can she respect his authority as her husband and trust in God’s will to be done when threatened with the loss of her daughter? Rose is also torn, between a good man she should love and a tormented man she shouldn’t. Rose learns some lessons and gains maturity in this book as she really starts to evaluate her own feelings and acknowledge them. I was so sad to come to the last page of this book; I wasn’t ready to say good-bye to the characters within. This just may be Lewis’ finest work.

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