Search - The Bridge of Peace: A Novel (Ada's House)

THE BRIDGE OF PEACE
By Cindy Woodsmall
Published by Water Brooke
ISBN#978-1-400-7397-9
342 Pages

Back Cover: Lena Kauffman is a young, Old Order Amish schoolteacher, who has dealt all her life with attention raised by a noticeable birthmark on her cheek. Having learned to move past the stares and whispers, Lena channels her zest for living into her love of teaching. But tensions mount as she is challenged to work with a rebellious young man and deal with several crisis' at the schoolhouse that threaten her other students. Her lack of submission and use of ideas that don’t line up with the Old Ways, strengthen the school board’s case as they begin to believe that Lena is behind all the trouble.


One member of the school board, Grey Graber, feels trapped by his own stifling circumstances. His wife, Elsie, has shut him out of her life, and he doesn’t know how long he can continue to live as if nothing is wrong. As the two finally come to a place of working toward a better marriage, tragedy befalls their family.

Lena and Grey have been life-long friends, but their relationship begins to crumble amidst unsettling deceptions, propelling each of them to finally face their own secrets. Can they both find a way past their losses and discover the strength to build a new bridge?

Review: I was excited to receive a review copy of this book which is the sequel to The Hope of Refuge. This story continues the story line of Cara and Ephraim. Cara is a woman who was raised outside the Amish Community and returned to discover her family heritage. In the meantime, she met Ephraim and fell in love. Ephraim is Amish and is willing to wait for Cara to learn the Old Order Amish ways so she can join the church. Then they could marry. What I liked most about Cara was her passion to do the right thing and at the same time, be true to herself. She slips up every now and then or discovers a new rule she knew nothing about; and the elders would quickly find out she’s slipped again. Like when Cara was all excited about the bike she brought home for her daughter to enjoy...“What’s so wrong with a bike?”

Ephraim explained, “It’s one of those old rules we’ve stuck by. They’re a bit flashy, and they allow a person to travel a lot longer distances than a foot scooter…I never said that I agree with all the Ordnung. I just trust that for the most part the regulations are needed to protect our ways and help us stay close and accountable.”

I enjoyed Cara and Ephraim’s courtship and the journey Cara and her daughter were on to learn and discover their family roots. I found it fascinating and funny to watch Cara and her daughter learn the Amish ways and yet struggle with what they loved from their old life.

Lena Kauffman is new to this series. She is a young Old Order Amish schoolteacher, who has a passion to teach, despite the many challenges she faced in doing her job, and living life in general, because of the noticeable birthmark on her face. Lena is asked by Elsie and Grey Gaber to evaluate their son. Elsie thinks he’s slow and Grey disagrees. Lena agrees to test the boy and tells them, “We all have a handicap and every one of us had to figure out how to get work done in spite of it.” This didn’t mean their boy was slow. I liked Lena’s out look on life and how creative she was in her teaching style and zest for life.Everyone in the community couldn’t get over what Lena did on her rumspringa, it was unheard of. I was surprised too! Lena not only had a passion to teach, but she had a heart to help her community anyway she could.

Deborah and Ada are in the story line as well in a big way. It was fun to read about how creative they were in running their business. Deborah surprised me as I learned how she liked pulling pranks on others in the Amish community. It was funny to think of the Amish women pulling pranks. It cracked me up, it wasn’t something I ever pictured.

Cindy Woodsmall shows that everyone in the Amish community is not happy and life isn’t always simple for them. It was interesting to read how Grey and Elsie dealt with their marital struggles. Once again, this author writes a heartfelt story about the Amish community with several twists and turns; a novel that is about patience, love, joy, hate, forgiveness and suspense. The conclusion of this series comes out in the fall of 2011. I look forward to reading it and you will too!

Nora St. Laurent
The Book Club Network
www.bookfun.org