The Amish community don’t make a big festival out of Christmas, but in this romance we see that they make a giant production out of a wedding. Oh wow! The wedding of Liz’s sister Marianne is being held at home, and half of Lancaster County will be seated. Liz considers herself too old for such happiness personally, but we see that A CHRISTMAS ENGAGEMENT may be in the offing.
Liz – I didn’t see her surname, as she is just known to all as Elmer and Sadie’s Liz – works contentedly in a restaurant on market days. Her new boss is Matthew Zook, a young Amish man, and he seems to appreciate a wise, busy young lady cook. Matthew decides to ask Liz to double date with his friend Henry and her friend Esther, near Thanksgiving. But Liz was previously jilted when her attractive fiancé Ray decided to wed another girl. She can’t bring herself to trust her own feelings or any man’s good intentions.
This warm story really is about the Amish way of life, how a family hosts a church assembly twice a year and the entire farm is tidied, planted, painted; the house is washed and pressed from top to bottom. At the same time, the talk is often about change. How nobody has to grow all the heads of celery for a traditional wedding dish, they can buy them. How two generations previously, it wasn’t accepted that an Amish person should run a store which sold to one and all, but now many Amish run stores instead of farms, the Englisch being their best customers.
Linda Byler has a special insight as she was raised in and still lives in the Amish tradition, and she has been a writer for an Amish newspaper for some years. A note at the end tells us that her novels are written by hand. She describes in the story, an office powered by solar panels, separate from the farmhouse so the phone line does not run into the home. Perhaps she prefers to write longhand, or perhaps she feels it’s wiser to be as traditional as possible when reaching out to an outside readership. Her characters hold a strong sense of their place in the community. The conflict in this tale is all internal, and generally resolved through prayer and family wisdom. Linda has written several other Amish novels, including an interesting set for young readers. A CHRISTMAS ENGAGEMENT will charm and amuse her fans, and could serve as a good introduction to newcomers.
Bestselling Amish novelist Linda Byler spins a sweet tale of heartache, disappointment, and ultimately hopes fulfilled at Christmastime.
Liz had been in love once, had even been engaged. In fact, the wedding had been planned, the barn cleaned, and the celery was set to be harvested to make the traditional wedding soup. Just two weeks before the day she was to exchange vows with her beloved, he changed his mind, and that was that.
The humiliation was almost as bad as the heartbreak. The whole community had celebrated her engagement, had participated in the wedding planning, had started giving her advice on keeping a home and raising children. When the wedding was canceled, no one knew what to say. She had to bear the pitying looks and awkward glances for many months. She vowed never to be such a fool again, never to trust her heart to a man who could just up and leave her with hardly an explanation. She'd rather be an old maid than go through that again.
Years pass, and Liz has made peace with her life as a single woman, a "leftover blessing" as the Amish say. She can admit to herself that Matthew, the owner of the Amish restaurant at the market where she works, is handsome. And she is aware that he is single. But she reminds herself over and over that it's not worth feeling anything for the man. He's her boss and that's it. So why does she look forward to work so much every day? And why can't she make her heart beat at a normal pace when he comes near?
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