The Promise of an Angel

The Promise of an Angel
Ruth Reid
320 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Source: NetGalley.com
★★★★☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.


In Ruth Reid's debut novel we find Judith Fisher soon to be betrothed to Levi.  At a picnic with her Amish community Judith discovers her younger sister, Martha, flirting with Levi.  While paying attention to them, her little brother, Samuel, wanders off and a tragic accident occurs.  Soon Judith is seeing visions, but no one believes her; instead the community thinks she's making them up for attention.  Only her friend Andrew believes her and soon a love triangle (or, really, a love square) is formed while they anxiously await to see if Samuel will get better.

I truly enjoyed this novel.  The more I read it and more I got into the story and enjoyed what I was reading.  Reid has a great talent for writing and telling a story.  The descriptions of Tobias, the angel and the scenery were beautiful, as was the plot itself.  The characters were multi-demensional and it was great to see how Judith and Andrew remained true to their faiths even when life and family made it difficult for them to do so.  I couldn't help but love the ending, too.  I really wanted the community to realize where they were going wrong in regards to two of their youth and I was glad to see them vindicated in the end.


Overall, this was a great piece of Amish fiction and I think Ms. Reid has a successful future ahead of her writing about the Amish.  I will definitely be checking out her next book in the "Heaven on Earth" series, Brush of Angel's Wings, when it comes out April 2012.  As for The Promise of an Angel, it is scheduled to be published June 14, 2011.