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Hester on the Run

By: Linda Byler
Narrated by: Stephanie Willis
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Publisher's Summary

The setting is the beginning of an Amish settlement in colonial America in the forests of eastern Pennsylvania. There, a young Amish couple, Hans and Kate Zug, are in their ninth year of marriage, still waiting to have a child. Then, one April morning, Kate finds a Native infant, wrapped in deerskin and placed next to the spring where she went to fill her water bucket.

Kate and Hans cherish Hester, despite the pointed question of Hans's mother - "What makes you think you can raise her Amish, with her Indian blood?" Struck by his daughter's unusual beauty, Hans insists on choosing the fabric for her handmade dresses. And when his and Kate's first son is born a year later, Hans despairs of his homely face and nearly bald head. In fact, Hans continues to give his fullest attention and affection to Hester, even as eight more children are born to him and Kate.

Hester glows as she grows, an unmistakable beauty both inside and out, and charms her adopted Amish community. But then, an elderly Lenape woman hands Hester a package of medicinal herbs to rout an infection that is threatening Kate's life. A trust passes between the wizened and the youthful Native women. In that moment, Hester recognizes that she belongs to two worlds, both intent on possessing her. When Amish Indian Hester realizes that she must leave her tension-filled home for her sake and her father's, she takes only two possessions: the leather-bound book of remedies left for her by the old Lenape woman and her memories of the Amish ways.

©2015 Linda Byler (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

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  • 30-07-2022

OK but questionable

Story line: An Amish couple finds and raises an indian baby.

Opinion 1: What I didn’t like was - the Amish Dad, Han’s, had an almost creepy obsession with Hester to the point of ignoring his other children and eventually wife. 18 yrs later he falls in love with her. Idolatry is not a good thing, The author does portray this as wrong.

Opinion 2: the author portrays the Amish faith to an adequate basic level, but compares the christian faith with the Indian faith as having the same God. Hester automatically has a connection to the land and natural inborn Indian skills such as hunting. She slaps her brother for cutting down trees when clearing land, and realises that the Indian God is the same as the Amish God. I definitely question whether this is a christian book. I gather the second book will clarify the authors doctrinal beliefs.

Opinion 3: This book shows no evidence of anyone trusting in a loving God to change their situations. The only evidence of people trusting God at all is when things got hard for Hester, she asked God for a sign to show her what to do. All other times their faith is all about begging God to heal, or believing things happened because it was God's will or due to personal sin.

But the book kept my interest wondering what became of Hester.

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Good

I enjoyed this book and looking forward to listening to the others in this series.

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Enjoyable

Engaging story and themes. Easy listening. Off to listen to book two. Narrator can be overzealous.

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