The Choice

November 23, 2009
The newest entry to the growing ranks of “bonnet fiction” writers is Fisher, who has written Amish nonfiction (Amish Peace
). This Lancaster County tale centers on Carrie Weaver, who marries an Amish man for convenience though her heart is committed to another. Carrie struggles to care for her hemophiliac younger brother as she lives with the consequences of her own choices. The outline is promising, but the execution flawed. An intriguing heroine shows the author's potential, but major problems compromise the book's overall merit. The plot creaks too loudly; a few too many characters die to complicate the action, and the character who poses the biggest threat is more a caricature than credible villain. Minor characters—an oversized lovable ex-con, a harpy stepmother—likewise mostly serve plot rather than populate a convincingly drawn world. The language can get adjective-laden and trite (“The air had grown thick and heavy”). Bonnet fiction devotees might be able to overlook some problems, but this is not a strong new offering in the subgenre.