Levi's Will

While the trend in the secular world is vampires, the trend among many Christian readers and authors has been anything Amish. For some reason the world of black dresses, beards and no electricity has been like a siren's call for the Christian publishing industry.

However, "Levi's Will" differs from most Amish lit for a few reasons. One is the superb writing quality. Another is that this is the story of a man, written by a man. Most historical novels on Christian bookshelves are either written by or about a woman - often both. Yet "Levi's Will" is from beginning to end about Will Mullet Mcgrader, an Amish man who fled his father and family in disgrace at nineteen and spent the rest of his life learning how to deal with that decision.

Running away from home is never simple. First one has to hide, because the family will come after one, and that means changing one's last name. Then if you join the army, you have to stick to that name and whatever backstory you've come up with because if the Army finds out you lied about your name, you're going to be in deep jail-worthy trouble.

Then, if you get married, you've got to choose: tell your wife the truth or not. And if you don't, it is going to leave a mark on your marriage and your children that you might never escape from.

Finally, if you ever decide to go back to your Amish family, there is the whole stigma of banning to live under. This involves such things as eating at a separate table and not being able to bring anything to share, because your righteous father can't eat any food you've paid for.

It's a tough life. But it was a tougher life Will fled from. Or so he thought.

I really enjoyed this novel and would heartily recommend it. There's a bit of language, and although the novel is pretty clean apart from that, this is still a story that is going to be enjoyed much more by the 16+ crowd than the younger ones.