The Bishop's Daughter shows readers various aspects of an Amish community. Sadie Hochstetler was married the much older Mervin for just a year when he passed away. He did not know she was pregnant at the time and he failed to provide for her in his will. She is now living at home with her rigid father trying to raise her son following the rules of their community. Sadie is being pressured to marry, but it is the last thing she wants after the experiences of her first marriage. She has never forgotten her first love, Elijah Fisher and how he left her with her brother. Elijah left after being told by Bishop Graber that he was not good enough for Sadie. While he does not like life in the English world, he is happy to be away from the rigid rules of the Amish community. With Bishop Graber unwell, Sadie steps up to handle his chores. Elijah and Sadie are put in daily contact with each other when he begins working on their dairy farm. The old spark is still there between them but is it enough to base a life on. I thought the story was nicely written, but the pace was a little slow. The story addresses various topics about Amish life. We get to see how hard it can be to follow the rules and how a Bishop can bend the rules to suit his purposes. I know I would chafe under the restrictions and the lack of individuality. I could not believe that Sadie could not even write to her brother unless her father approved. Appearances are very important in their community and gossip can ruin a woman's reputation. We see the differences between the younger Rosmanda with her view of love and the more mature Sadie. I did feel that the first half of the book kept addressing the same issues (felt like the plot was going around in a circle). I could not wait for the story to move forward. My favorite sentence from The Bishop's Daughter was âlove . . . it could be the sweetest of experiences and the most painful.â I liked that the author provided an epilogue and I am curious to find out what will happen with Absolom.

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