With her Amish parents’ twentieth anniversary approaching, eighteen-year-old Sylvia Miller stumbles across a surprise–the old brass tinderbox her clockmaker father keeps in his Lancaster County shop has been left unlocked. Against her better judgment, Sylvia opens the cherished heirloom, not realizing that what she is about to discover will splinter apart her happy life. Sylvia’s bewilderment … bewilderment grows when her father confronts her about snooping in the box. To her amazement, the respected convert to the Old Order reacts as if he has something to hide.
Burdened by the weight of his deception, Earnest Miller decides he must reveal the details about his past to his beloved wife, Rhoda. The long-kept secret alters everything for the close-knit family, jeopardizing Earnest and Rhoda’s relationship, as well as threatening Sylvia’s recent engagement to the preacher’s grandson.
Can the Millers find a way forward through the turmoil to a place of forgiveness and acceptance?
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I usually like Beverly Lewis books but not this one. To much repetition and it just abruptly ended.
Enjoyed it!
Love to relax while I read Amish books!
What a great way to start a new series. This is a slow paced book but well worth savoring. The secrets of the past are revealed through a daughter’s curiosity and it was astonishing to me the punishment inflicted upon Earnest. Makes me grateful for Christ and the forgiveness He bestows upon us, instead of man determining what is appropriate. I love the realistic characters and how they show vulnerability, humility, and forgiveness. I also enjoyed the surprise at the end that leads into part of the storyline for book two. I could picture the beautiful clocks Earnest handcrafted and the beautiful jars of canned food, as the written word came to life on the pages. I can’t wait to read The Timepiece. An enjoyable, thought provoking read.
I was blessed to win a copy of this book. The honest review and opinions are my own and were not required.
I have been reading Beverly Lewis for I know twenty years and each book she releases keeps getting better and better. The Tinderbox is going to be one of my favorites. I am already eagerly anticipating the sequel due out later this year.
The shock at the end had my jaw dropping to the floor. What a surprise.
I admire Rhoda and her strength and faith in God to work through the secret her husband, Earnest, kept from her. I don’t think I could have been as calm and understanding as she. As always Lewis shows how our belief in God can help us with forgiveness but she doesn’t preach it. I like that.
A solid four star read.
I received a complimentary copy from Bethany House through NetGalley. Any and all opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.
This is the story of an Old Order Amish family whose dad holds a secret. Sylvia Miller is the eighteen year old daughter who discovers something about the secret, but only partially. Earnest and Rhoda Miller are her parents, her dad is a converted Englisher, and was accepted into the community years ago by the head Bishop at that time.
Earnest makes a living building and repairing clocks, and does well at it, working in his shop for long hours sometimes. The Tinderbox, which holds keepsakes of Earnest, is kept on a shelf is in his clock shop, and Sylvia gives in to curiosity and temptation one day while dusting the shelves in there, looking through all the contents of her dad’s Tinderbox.Eventually her dad finds out Sylvia has looked, and he doesn’t tell her much, but really struggles with revealing his secret to his wife.
The story then concentrates itself on that struggle, and what the secret being revealed does to his family and himself. Several other stories are parallel to this one in the book, one about Rhoda’s sister Hannah, and another about Sylvia and her beau.Personally, I did not really enjoy this book like I have enjoyed Beverly Lewis’s past books. This one seemed to be aimed more at the teen audience, except for the one slightly amorous scene between husband and wife, I think it would have been suitable for teens.
This was an easy read, although I didn’t read every page, and did skip a few chapters. I just couldn’t really get into it. Other fans of Beverly Lewis may find The Tinderbox to be a good, enjoyable read for them.I am received a copy of The Tinderbox from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to provide a positive review, and received no monetary compensation.Romans 10:9-13; John 3:16-21
“No one has to know,” she whispered.
And yet they did, and they would. When Sylvia Miller unlocked her father’s antique tinderbox, a plethora of memorabilia from her beloved father’s English past assaulted her senses, only it was what was carefully wrapped in the bottom of the box that would create a firestorm of unpleasant repercussions. Her once tight-knit Old Order Amish family was about to be torn apart. If only she had left well enough alone.
Earnest Miller is grief-stricken when his close neighbor and confidant passes away, but that pain doesn’t come close to what his wife is going to feel when the truths that the tinderbox have hidden for two decades come to light. And they must, for someone has opened his box. Will Rhoda ever forgive him? Has his determination to protect his family, eventually going to destroy them?
Quite honestly, this story is not going to endear many readers to the harsher side of the Amish community. It was a struggle to read at times. Is there hope for forgiveness and restoration? Absolutely, but it comes with a price, along with lingering shades of hypocrisy within the Order.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions stated above are entirely my own.
Can’t wait for the nest one in the series!
This book is wonderful. It shows that the Amish experience real life situations similar to those of everyone else and that happily ever after is what we make of life. It is a story of forgiveness and acceptance. Of love and faith.
beautiful story, well written and thoroughly enjoyable. Brava!
m.f.y.