Review of: The Stone Wall
From beloved author Lewis comes a resplendent tale of love, loss, and faith in the Amish community. Lewis deftly weaves different perspectives and time periods together through the interconnected stories of Anna and her maternal grandmother, Eliza, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease [p. 10]. Anna, recovering from a breakup, leaves her hometown to live with her mother’s cousin Sadie and her husband for a change of pace despite her parents’ disapproval and concern for Eliza’s health [p. 23 ff]. Unlike her mother’s family who are Beachy Amish, Sadie and her side of the clan are Old Order. Soon, Anna is faced with choosing between two suitors – Mart, who comes from a more modern sect similar to Anna’s and represents the more acceptable choice, or Gabe, an Old Order widow with a young troubled child who stirs Anna’s heart [p. 198 ff]. As her bonds with Gabe and his daughter grow, Anna ponders the deep divisions between the Amish communities and discovers that many paths lead to the same God [p. 310 ff]. The redemptive union of Gabe and Anna is all the more poignant set alongside Eliza’s fleeting memories of losing the man she loved because of the same insular divides [p. 46 ff]. The symbolism of the stone wall [p. 71 ff] adds a lovely dimension to Lewis’ work which will delight readers with the abundance of historical and cultural detail.
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