The Photograph by Beverly Lewis

Eva Esch and her sisters are in a predicament. With the passing of their widowed mother, Eva's older brother plans to move his growing family into the Eden Valley farmhouse where they all grew up, leaving little room for his three single sisters. Unless they marry within the year, the only apparent option is for two sisters to go to Indiana to live with an elderly great aunt. Eva hopes to be married, but she isn't sure she wants to give up her sweet shop for the life of a farmer's wife. And she can't see how her prospects would be any better in Indiana.

When younger sister Lily disappears in the night, leaving only a brief note, Eva fears she has been wooed away from the People by an outsider. And when Jed Stutzman, a young Amish buggy maker from Ohio, shows up at Eva's market stand in Lancaster with a photo of a Plain young woman, Eva's world begins to tilt.


About The Author

Beverly Marie Jones (Lewis) was born in the heart of Amish country—Lancaster, Pennsylvania. At the tender age of nine, she began writing short stories and poetry. Prior to that, she made up lyrics to the "little fingers" piano pieces she learned, at the age of five.
"My mother saved everything I wrote, even the stories I dreamed up during my grade school years," Beverly says. One such tale is semi-autobiographical, about a young girl whose parents can no longer afford to give her piano lessons. The manuscript was 77 pages long and titled "She Shall Have Music," penned under the shade of a lone willow tree. "Reading, writing, and playing piano have been top three on my list of favorite things," she says.
Booksellers across the country, and around the world, have spread the word of Beverly's tender tales of Plain country life. A clerk in a Virginia bookstore wrote, "Beverly's books have a compelling freshness and spark. You just don't run across writing like that every day. I hope she'll keep writing stories about the Plain people for a long, long time."
A member of the National League of American Pen Women, as well as a Distinguished Alumnus of Evangel University, Lewis has written over 80 books for children, youth, and adults, many of them award-winning. She and her husband, David, make their home in Colorado, where they enjoy hiking, biking, and spending time with their family. They are also avid musicians and fiction "book worms."


My Review

When Jeb Stutzman begins his journey from Holmes County, Ohio to Eden Valley, Pennsylvania, his life is about to change again. He is still reeling from the sudden death of his beloved fiancé a year ago, and having trouble recovering and moving on with his life. He works for his Uncle learning and possibly taking over his buggy building business.
While on the bus he finds a copy of Little Women wedged between the seat, and in it a picture of a beautiful Amish woman, a graven image, how could she be Amish and taking picture? This simple photo is about to change his life when he meets, or thinks he does, the girl in the photo.
Eva and her sister Frona are barely hanging on after their younger sister Lily left to go English, their brother Menno has also dropped a bomb that he wants to take his birthright and live in the family home. Someone is going to have to leave and Eva will have to close her candy store, Menno and his family need the room.
What is about to happen makes this book a page turner, and a delightful read, come along and experience the trial and tribulations of wanting to move on with their lives and feeling the loss of their beloved sister.
I received this book through Bethany House Publishers Blogger Program, and was not required to give a positive review.