Anna's Crossing ~ Review

Anna's Crossing
An Amish Beginnings Novel
By Suzanne Woods Fisher

If you read Suzanne Woods Fisher's Christmas at Rose Hill Farm you will want to read this newest offering she has put to paper.  In this you will learn more about the mysterious rose bush that was discovered hidden away in the greenhouse.

But this story is Anna König's.  Leaving her family behind, to journey to the New World with her people.  But leaving her family behind is the last thing Anna wants, but she speaks English and her people need her skill to help them leave behind the old life for a new one.  The rumored trials of an Atlantic crossing weigh heavily on Anna, but she is determined to see this through and return to her home.

The Charming Nancy is to be their home for many weeks if not months.  Conditions are less than ideal and crowded.  And living in the damp, dark lower deck away from fresh air and sun is only the first difficulty the Peculiars must face.  Then there is the suspicions of the crew about these passengers - passengers which include women and children. 

With orders to stay below Anna and young Felix Bauer can't help themselves as they seek the freedom of the upper deck which brings them to the attention of Bairn who is both carpenter and surgeon for the ship.  Bairn feeling empathy for Felix and his confinement, allows the boy freedom to explore the ship, within reason.  But Anna is not what he expected as she speaks her mind letting him know what she thinks of the situation in which lower deck finds itself.  And she is quite firm in her beliefs of her Amish ways and she's not afraid to share this beliefs with Bairn.

But Bairn wants nothing to do with a God who wasn't there for him at a time when he most needed Him.  And he's determined that nothing will change his opinion, after all God wouldn't want him, not with the sins that crowd his past.  But sometimes God sees something in us that we don't...  

Anna's Crossing is unlike any Amish book you've ever read.  This is a story of new beginnings and second chances.  The setting for the majority of the book is the Charming Nancy. There are moments of heart-wrenching loss and those of joyous wonder.  I truly feel that this is the best book that Suzanne has written to date.  The characters are compelling and story moving.  I, for one, was fascinated by the Author's Note with the historical research that went into the making of this story.
I also loved how this book tied into her previous books with a single rose bush.

I was provided a copy of this book through Revell's blogging program in exchange for my honest review.

Some endings are really beginnings . . . 

On a hot day in 1737 in Rotterdam, Anna König reluctantly sets foot on the Charming Nancy, a merchant ship that will carry her and her fellow Amish believers across the Atlantic to start a new life. As the only one in her community who can speak English, she feels compelled to go. But Anna is determined to complete this journey and return home--assuming she survives. She's heard horrific tales of ocean crossings and worse ones of what lay ahead in the New World. But fearfulness is something Anna has never known.

Ship's carpenter Bairn resents the somber people--dubbed Peculiars by the deckhands--who fill the lower deck of the Charming Nancy. All Bairn wants to do is to put his lonely past behind him, but that irksome and lovely lass Anna and her people keep intruding on him.

Delays, storms, illness, and diminishing provisions test the mettle and patience of everyone on board. When Anna is caught in a life-threatening situation, Bairn makes a discovery that shakes his entire foundation. But has the revelation come too late?

Bestselling author Suzanne Woods Fisher invites you back to the beginning of Amish life in America with this fascinating glimpse into the first ocean crossing--and the lives of two intrepid people who braved it.


Suzanne Woods Fisher is the bestselling author of the Lancaster County Secrets series, the Stoney Ridge Seasons series, and The Inn at Eagle Hill series, as well as nonfiction books about the Amish, including Amish Peace. She is also the coauthor of an Amish children's series, The Adventures of Lily Lapp. Suzanne is a Carol Award winner for The Search, a Carol Award finalist for The Choice, and a Christy Award finalist for The Waiting. She is also a columnist for Christian Post and Cooking & Such magazines. She lives in California. Learn more atwww.suzannewoodsfisher.com and follow Suzanne on Twitter @suzannewfisher.