Book Review~Christian's Hope

About the Book: When Christian Hochstetler returns to the Amish after seven years in captivity, he finds that many things have shifted.
Captured as a child during the French and Indian War, Christian has spent much of his life among Native Americans, who cared for him and taught him their ways. Now that Christian is home, his father wants him to settle back into their predictable Amish life of farming, and Christian's budding friendship with Orpha Rupp beckons him to stay as well.

Yet Christian feels restless, and he misses his adoptive Native American family---who raised him as their own son. When faced with a life-altering decision, will Christian choose the Amish identity that his father desires for him? Or will he depart from his family and faith community yet again?

Christian's Hope tells the story of the younger brother of Joseph and son of Jacob, whom readers have come to love in the first two books in the Return to Northkill series. Based on actual events and written by a descendant of the Hochstetler family, Christian's Hope brings the sweeping epic of the Return to Northkill series to a soul-stirring end.

Read more reviews at Litfuse. You can  purchase your own copy of Christian's Hope at MennoMedia Publishing.  

About the Author: 

Ervin R. Stutzman is author of Jacob's Choice, Joseph's Dilemma, Tobias of the Amish, and Emma, A Widow Among the Amish. Born into an Amish home in Kalona, Iowa, Stutzman based the Return to Northkill series on the life of his ancestor, Jacob Hochstetler. He has been featured on TLC's Who Do You Think You Are?

What I Thought: Christian's Hope is the third book in author Ervin R. Stutzman's series Return to Northkill. This book and series is different from any other Amish fiction I have read, and believe me, I've read a lot of Amish fiction!! It is historical, based on a true story, and the author is a descendant of the characters! The other way this book is different is that it is set in the 1700s during the French and Indian war. It was fascinating to read, knowing the basic story really happened. 

I did not read the first two books in the series, however I do think Christian's Hope can be a standalone book. The story lagged for me in a few areas, but I wonder if it would not have had I read the first two. I would like to go back and read them. My heart went out to Christian-here he had been raised by his Indian family most of his life, with faint memories of his early years as Amish. Suddenly thrust back with his Amish family, he misses his Indian family and is set in the Indian ways. His Amish father wants him to be content with a future as an Amish father, but he does not know that is for him. Christian is torn between two very different worlds and families, and does not know who he should be loyal to. 

I am very impressed with the amount of research this book must have taken for the author. Although I'm sure it was fascinating for him as it was his ancestors. At the back of Christian's Hope is more about the author, acknowledgements, and historical notes. If you like reading historical fiction and about the Amish, you will love this series.