The Promise of an Angel

In Mescota County, Michigan, an angelic visitor's words inspire Judith to a future she never imagined.

After a barn raising accident, Judith Fischer's convinced she's met an angel. However, her attempts to convince others end up frustrating her Old-Order Amish community. Only Andrew Lapp believes her, but the rest, including Levi Plank, the man's she's waited to marry, demand she forget the nonsense. Meanwhile, her younger sister Martha has taken a fancy to Levi and sees her sister's controversy as a perfect distraction for turning Levi's head.

In a dream, the angel tells Judith she must choose her path. As her faith continues to grow, so do her feelings for Andrew. Will she continue to place her hope in the angel's message, even if it means losing all she knows and loves?

Life, as Judith Fischer had always known it, came crashing down when her little brother Samuel fell from the top of the barn. She’s always loved telling stories to the children, but now her community thinks she’s looking for attention, lying, and maybe even crazy. Everyone she felt she could count on seemed to have abandoned her – not the norm for a family and definitely not for an Amish community. It was amazing how quickly Judith could go from being the young woman who was trusted to watch all the children to being the woman to whom no one would speak to.

In all of the Amish fiction I’ve read so far, I’ve never met a “player” until now. Levi is really something else – I wanted to slap him, numerous times. Judith’s younger sister Martha is a brat – she needed a spanking. Andrew, despite being the Bishop’s son, is a bit rebellious in his quiet, shy way and I would be honored to have him as a friend. Speaking of the Bishop… I don’t think I’ve met a character that I wanted to go “Na-na-na-na-na-na” to when things resolve. As I read, I felt pain, and sorrow, and frustration, and loathing, and turmoil, and expectancy, and faith, and more frustration, and finally acceptance and bliss.

Ruth Reid has given us a wonderful read in this first book in the Heaven on Earth series and I await “Brush of Angel’s Wings" in March, 2012.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for my review copy.