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With All Her Heart–disabilities in the Amish world
With All Her Heart
by Kelly Irvin
Amish romances tend to follow the usual path of all gentle, clean romances. Romance is in the air for a couple or perhaps several. There is some type of conflict that will keep the couple apart. The problems are solved and the couples are united. That is, of course, a simplified summary and most have some serious issues that have to be resolved. In Kelly Irvin’s An Amish Calling trilogy, the author explores “the impact of the founder effect on Amish communities.” To try to obey Scripture, the Amish only marry within their faith. This small population of choices for marriage can result in rare, sometimes debilitating, diseases. Examples are Down Syndrome, spina bifida, and dwarfism. The Amish, or Plain folks as they call themselves, love “their children with physical and mental developmental disabilities with a fierceness that couldn’t be denied.” They are called “special,” integrated into family life, and ensured of care throughout their lives.
The main character in this story is Bonnie who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) which despite treatment causes her muscles to progressively weaken. For an Amish woman, her life goal is to marry and have children. Bonnie can physically give birth, but caring for a home and children is not something she can do on her own. Bonnie joins with two other women with disabilities to found Homespun Handicrafts to support themselves and others with disabilities who make items for sale in the store. Their Amish crafts are especially popular with English tourists.
Several other characters in the book have disabilities from a variety of causes, not just the founder effect. Elijah is very shy which is a problem for his auctioneer family. He is deathly afraid of having to “call an auction.” He would rather spend his time and talents creating toys and furniture for sale. His love for Bonnie, however, loosens his tongue and emboldens him.
The plot and characters in this story will grab your heart as the characters deal with real, unremitting problems. This book is a page turner, partly to see what will happen next, but just as much because of empathy for the characters. They struggle with the age old questions of “why me?” and faith and trust in God in a fallen world where bad things do happen to good people. There is even an important thread dealing with a widow and widower and their obligations to their children. All of these are good characters and the reader will want God’s best for them.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Christian, Romance, Religion
Notes: 1. This series has three novels that all deal with disabilities. The author, herself, has a disability and she says that “each book took me deeper into self-examination of my own life as a person living with disability and disease, while delving into how others perceive these issues—both Amish and non-Amish folks.” She tries to do this with sensitivity to the many issues encompassed in the book. This is the third book, but they can all be standalones. I read the first one and now this one. Do not be intimidated by the list of characters at the beginning. I used the glossary of Pennsylvania Dutch terms more than I did the list of characters.
2. There are discussion questions at the end of the book.
Publication: January 28, 2025—Zondervan
Memorable Lines:
The shop gave Plain folks like herself, with disabilities, a way to earn their keep when traditional Plain tasks couldn’t be accomplished. More importantly it gave them a sense of self-worth, a sense that they contributed just as their abled family members did.
“Everybody has disabilities. Some show. Some don’t. I think Gott allows them so we don’t get too uppity for our own gut. Like the verse says, so no one can boast. In our weakness Gott is strong.”
“Sometimes there are disabilities more limiting than the physical. They’re disabilities we create ourselves by doubting that we can have the full lives others around us have.”
The Secret Life of Sunflowers—bringing Vincent van Gogh to the world
The Secret Life of Sunflowers: a gripping, inspiring novel based on the true story of Johanna Bonger, Vincent van Gogh’s sister-in-law
By Marta Molnar
There are many, many works from various media that focus on the artist Vincent van Gogh—books, movies, poems, songs, and of course prints of Van Gogh’s own artwork. The irony is that Vincent Van Gogh was not appreciated as an artist during his own lifetime. His brother Theo was not an artist, but he worked as an art dealer and made enough money to support his own family and his brother so that Vincent could concentrate on his artwork.
The Secret Life of Sunflowers is not about Vincent van Gogh. It tells of the efforts of his sister-in-law, Johanna Bonger van Gogh, to promote Vincent’s art and legacy after the death of both Vincent and shortly thereafter Theo. As a young widow, Johanna had to fight to even get recognized as capable of marketing Vincent’s art. She did this while caring for her young son and earning a living running a boarding house.
This is a dual timeline book. Emsley in our current day is an art auctioneer who faces residual gender discrimination in the art world. Because of the legacy of her bold and controversial Aunt Violet, Emsley pursues her personal and professional goals even in the face of the betrayal of her business partners who were formerly her best friend and her longtime romantic partner. Among other things, Emsley’s aunt bequeaths a diary and some old papers in Dutch to Emsley. They seem to hold secrets about Vincent van Gogh. Emsley has to dive into the meaning of these papers and an ugly small painting her aunt had saved. She accomplished all this while figuring out how to rescue her own business and fulfill her aunt’s final intentions.
The author of this book was intrigued with the story of Johanna, but she had great difficulty in finding information about Johanna in her research. She fleshed out the facts she discovered by adding interesting characters. Both timelines contain supportive friends—for Emsley and her aunt and for Johanna. These three are strong women, but having others come alongside made such a difference in their journeys. Emsley and Johanna both had difficult lives and had to push to make their ways in the world. Alternating between the two timelines was an effective technique as it relieved the building tension surrounding each protagonist.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Fiction, Biographical Fiction
Notes: 1. #1 in the Light and Life Series
2. Includes discussion questions
Publication: July 19, 2022
Memorable Lines:
“Vincent says, If you hear a voice within say you cannot do something, then by all means do that thing, and that voice will be silenced.”
“Sunflowers mean gratitude to Vincent. He never loses faith.” I leaned against my husband and imagined an entire vast field of vibrant golden petals. Thousands of these flowers, unworried about the world, unafraid of the storms, turned as one in gratitude toward the sun.
If life was a rolling river, friendship was the life raft.
education pathways 