Book Club: Reviewing The Road Home by Beverly Lewis

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This was the first time I have read any books by Beverly Lewis and I was pleasantly surprised. In The Road Home, we follow the journey of Lena Rose Schwartz after the death of her parents, as she travels from the Amish community of Centreville, Michigan to the Leacock Community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The book details Lena Rose's yearning for her nine siblings who remained in Centreville, her experiences helping her cousins Harley and Mimi Stoltzfus, providing companionship to Solomon, Lydia, James, and Rebekah, and her growing friendship with Arden.

From the beginning of the book we are introduced to a host of characters and in general I feel it was rather easy to feel connected to them. The only characters with whom I had some difficulty developing a connection were some of Lena Rose's siblings. This may or may not have been intentional as I feel that Lewis spent more time introducing and describing the siblings that Lena Rose seemed more involved with back in Centreville – Chris and Emma.

photo by M.Y.

I would have appreciated a bit more detail explaining the differences that Lena Rose notes between her former life – different clothing, different carriages than the horse and buggy, etc. – to that of the life in Lancaster County. Perhaps I am at a disadvantage not having read other books by Lewis. In fact, I have not read a lot of fiction or non-fiction relating to the Amish community even though we do not live far from Lancaster County.

I enjoyed reading about Lena celebrating the different holidays with Harley and Mimi and the rest of the family and friends in Lancaster County. While my heart was sad for her character missing home, I was glad to see she was accepting God's current path or plan for her. She was finding a way to make positive impacts in her temporary home by helping Rebekah, cleaning James' home, and also participating in the various youth activities like singing, hay rides, and ice skating. In fact, one of my favorite descriptions is about the hay ride during the winter.

I would recommend The Road Home by Beverly Lewis from Bethany House to individuals looking for Christian fiction that includes a bit of clean romance and is inspirational. After reading The Road Home, I will be looking for other books of Lewis' to read as well.












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