The Brethren

Stina Nielsen's skill in depicting Amish characters is enhanced by her ability to deliver a Pennsylvania Dutch accent. Lewis provides plenty of information about the Amish way of life as she continues her story of Annie Zook, the heroine of two previous books. Annie's dream to become an artist is abandoned because her culture does not allow her to pursue her passion. Her life is further complicated when she falls in love with an "Englisher." Nielsen builds the suspense as the listener wonders how Annie will ever find happiness and delivers an outstanding performance as Annie attempts to come to terms with her own identity. N.L. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

August 15, 2007
This is the third and final book in Lewis's "Annie's People" series, with all the story lines begun in the earlier works followed in this latest offering. Annie Zook promised her father that she wouldn't paint for six months and is waiting for her "sentence" to end. She feels he is unnecessarily harsher with her than with her brothers. When her best friend Essie's husband, Zeke Hochstetler, is arrested after confessing to the long-ago murder of his younger brother, Annie moves in with Essie to help with the four children and the work on the farm. This produces more problems for Annie as Essie is "under the shun" from their Amish community for attending the Mennonite Church. Meanwhile, Annie's father had forbidden her to see her sweetheart, Ben, so he goes home to Kentucky, where he discovers that he was adopted as a four-year-old. As usual, Lewis makes Annie and her people come alive. Unfortunately, it feels as if the author might have had another ending in mind, because the outcome seems contrived. Stina Nielsen reads in her customarily warm style, with the Amish voices having a different cadence from the English ones. Essential for libraries with the first two books in the series.-Nancy Reed, Immanuel Baptist Church Lib., Paducah, KY

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