More Than Words
The second volume of Daughters of Amana is set in 1885. Gretchen Kohler’s family is assigned to run an Amana Colony town’s general store, a difficult task since the death of her mother. Gretchen must also keep an eye on her younger brother and their often senile grandmother. To escape, she secretly keeps a journal, and writes poetry and stories. When a visiting outsider salesman praises her writing, Gretchen can’t resist basking in his approval. But this raises jealousy in her potential suitor, Conrad, the town barber. When the salesman submits a story Gretchen wrote about the colony to a magazine without her permission, Amana’s ruling elders are shocked. Is Gretchen’s writing career over even as it begins?
Fans of inspirational “bonnet” novels will like this story. Instead of the usual Amish setting, it provides an alternative: an Iowa communal living colony. The romance is sweet, and Gretchen’s pull between wanting to write and the colony’s rules makes good conflict. A subplot about a nearby camp of Gypsies might be one too many, however, as there are passages where Gretchen careens from one crisis to another. Overall, though, the communal living twist produces an above-average Christian prairie novel.
