The Ebb Tide

Bestseller Lewis (The Wish) continues her streak of affecting, enjoyable Amish tales with this story of a young woman in present-day Lancaster County, Penn., who’s eager to see the world. Sallie Riehl is the youngest of 10 children. Her older siblings have settled down, but she has always had a case of wanderlust and has been saving her money to travel to Australia as her last opportunity for adventure before being baptized into the Amish community. When those long-awaited plans change, she jumps at the chance to spend the summer as a nanny for a young girl in Cape May, N.J.—even though it means delaying her baptism another year and leaving a would-be suitor behind. While there, she discovers the wonders of a world she has never known. She also encounters Kevin Kreider, a Mennonite with family ties to the Amish. As the two become friends, she is torn between her loving family at home and the lure of the larger world. Sallie must struggle and pray to figure out what God wants of her. Fans of Lewis’s work or Amish fiction in general will relish this heartwarming story of self-discovery, friendship, and the search for God’s will. (Apr.)