Promise to Keep: A Novel (Promise of Sunrise) by Elizabeth Byler Younts

World War II Marine Joe Garrison returns home from war longing to be a father to his deaf daughter, Daisy, only to find that she is attached to Esther Detweiler, the Amish woman who has raised her since his wife’s death in this touching historical romance.

Orphaned as a child, Esther Detweiler is used to caring for herself and her ailing grandmother. They made the best out of a hard life and poverty without asking for help. They even take in her shunned cousin’s deaf daughter, Daisy, when her mother dies and her father goes off to war. When Esther’s grandmother dies, Daisy is all she has.

When war veteran Joe Garrison returns, all he can think about is recovering from the horrors of war and building a relationship with his seven-year-old daughter. Daisy, however, is unwilling to leave Esther, whom she loves. Joe and Daisy get to know each other again, but Joe struggles with nightmares and fatherhood is proving to be more difficult than he imagined. Esther loves Daisy and despite her Amish ways, Joe finds himself drawn to her as a woman and not just a caregiver.

As their love blossoms, Joe decides to send Daisy away to a school for the deaf which propels their lives into turmoil and a battle for love and family.


About The Author 

Elizabeth Byler Younts is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and writes Amish Historical Fiction for Howard Books. She is an Air Force officer’s wife and a homeschooling mom with two young daughters. She makes her home wherever her family is stationed. Elizabeth was Amish as a child and after her parents left the church she still grew up among her Amish family and continues to speak Pennsylvania Dutch.

website

Http://www.elizabethbyleryounts.com 

My Review 

A Promise to keep happens in the time after the Second World War, and war veteran Joe Garrison has returned to Lancaster, Pa and his daughter Daisy. Joe had been running away from his problems, before he left his dear wife was lost in child birth along with his new born son. His daughter he believes is deaf and dumb, as was a long gone brother, and he couldn’t handle all that had happened. He leaves his daughter with his Mother-In-Law, whom in turn leaves her with her niece Esther.
He returns and wants to take Daisy to live with him, but he his filled with demons, PTSD it would be called today. Daisy on the other hand has been thriving in the Amish culture, and Esther love and guidance.
Esther has to come to terms with what is about to happen in her life, someone has returned from the dead? Can she learn to forgive? Her faith demands that she does, and can she come to terms with giving up her beloved Daisy?
There are answers here, and big surprises all around, things are quite often not as we perceive. I know this is the final book in this series, and so very enjoyable. You won’t be disappointed once you turn that first page.
I received this book through Edelweiss and Howard Books, and was not required to give a positive review.