Dovie Cates comes to the Amana Colonies in Iowa in 1892 hoping to visit some relatives and solve the mystery of why her deceased mother left the Colonies in the first place. Having grown up in Cincinnati, OH, life in the Colonies is different than the way she grew up. But since her mother spent her early years in the Colonies, her mother had raised her with many of the stories and traditions of the Amana family. On arriving in the Colonies, she lives with her mother's cousin Louise, her husband George and daughter Karlina. Dovie works in the Kitchen House with Louise and Karlina works with her father with the sheep. Since Karlina's father is in poor health, a new shepherd, Anton, is sent to help with the sheep. Karlina and Anton find working together difficult at first. Dovie becomes friends with the man who delivers bread to the Kitchen House from the Bakery every day. As Dovie struggles to get information from anyone at all about her mother (no one wants to help), she discovers just enough clues to jump to some disturbing conclusions. This is a wonderful story and one wants to keep reading till all is solved. It also provides interesting insight into how this small group of Amana Colonies functioned in the late 1800s and the background for the way they lived. It makes me long for a simpler time when God was viewed with reverence and people genuinely tried to do what was right in all things. I will definitely look forward to more books by Judith Miller about the Amana Colonies and its people.
I received a copy of this book from Bethany House to review. I did not receive any compensation for completing this review. All opinions are my own.
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