Hannah’s Choice

Hannah’s Choice by Jan Drexler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love a story that keeps me guessing – and this one does! Jan Drexler paints a very tranquil setting in 1840s Pennsylvania, with creeks and farms and orchards. What could go wrong in such a place? Human tragedy and human choices, that’s what.

Hannah Yoder’s world changed when she was only nine years old. The deaths of three younger siblings to an outbreak of diphtheria had covered her family with blanket of sadness that refused to lift. Until her father decided to move the family to the wilderness of Indiana, away from the little graves, away from the memories that haunted her mother. But Hannah didn’t want to leave the only home she’d ever known. She didn’t want to leave the banks of her beloved Conestoga Creek. Her only hope to stay would be to leave her Amish faith and marry her Mennonite neighbor Adam, her best friend since childhood. Then handsome Josef Bender arrives with his old world accent and solid Amish faith. Josef is going to Indiana too. What will Hannah do?

I loved the the characters in this story. Very real, very likable, very different from one another. These aren’t cookie-cutter Amish characters that you find in some Amish novels. “Hannah’s Choice” is the first in a series and I’m looking forward to the next book.