Back to the beginning: The Choice (book 1)- (Spoiler Alert!)

I started my Amish adventures with book 2 of Suzanne Woods Fisher's Lancaster County Secrets Series. I just recently finished my third book from the series, but this book, The Choice, is actually the first book in the series. I can't say that I felt thoroughly confused about the order at all because the three books follow different families- so it isn't necessary to have read them in order (thank God!).

This book follows Carrie Weaver, who shortly after the book starts becomes Carrie Miller. The reader follows Carrie as she prepares to run away with her baseball-stricken boyfriend. Just as Carrie prepares to follow Solomon Riehl to the city, Carrie's father dies and she feels lost. Carrie's stepmother is cold and less than welcoming to Carrie and her younger brother Andy. Carrie desperately marries a young man who'd been trying to court her. She sees this as a way to protect Andy and give herself some security, even though she's in love with Solomon. Carrie also knows that Solomon won't be joining the Plain lifestyle until he gets baseball out of his system and until he hasn't realized the benefits of the Plain lifestyle.

Fisher blew me away with her choice to kill off three main characters by page 86. My jaw literally dropped by the time Carrie's new husband was killed in an accident- just as the two of them started to show some promise. Again, Fisher has chosen to use grief and blossoming love (in conjunction with trust) as themes. As well, I'm starting to think that buggies are death traps because it seems to be a choice method to kill-off a character because of the prevalence of such accidents (I think out of the three books there has been at least one fatal car-buggy accident per novel). The book is definitely a reminder of mortality and it seems that the Amish have to face death sooner than many English. It's hard to deny a family member's death when the body is laid out in the living room by the day following the death. It's a very harsh, but honest reality.

Aside from the mortality, there are more prominent English characters in this novel compared to the other two. It's very evident how prominent the English are in interfering with Amish life despite the Amish's hopes. And it's not that the Plain aren't willing to work with the English, but it's that Plain-English marriages result in either shunning of the Plain believer if he/she chooses to pursue the worldly way or the English person is expected to convert- which is very rare because it's so burdensome. Also, the English beliefs about land development and the Plain beliefs clash at times- which is evident in The Choice.

Along with the other two in the series, The Waiting (book 2) and The Search (book 3), I definitely recommend The Choice particularly as a therapeutic method for dealing with grief. that is, only if the person needing the relief is the type of person who's willing to face his/her fears head on and in a way that is able to see the big picture. For others unwilling to face fears or have difficulty dealing with change head-on, The Choice may be a hard pill to swallow because it deals with the tough truths of death head on. For me, it made me appreciate the uncertainty I've recently encountered with facing the possibility of a career change. It's reassuring to see characters face large changes and want to resist, but know that God has a plan for them... it's inspiring to little fish like me.