Leaving Lancaster

by Kate Lloyd
David C. Cook

More than anything else, thirty-something Holly Fisher longs for family. Growing up in Seattle without a dad or grandparents, she wonders what it would be like to have a heritage, a place of belonging. Holly is furious when her mother, Esther, reveals a long-kept secret: Holly’s grandmother and uncles are still alive and begging Esther to return. And Holly is shocked when she learns that the family she’s never known lives on a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, farm—as part of an Amish community her mother once abandoned.

Guilt-ridden Esther, terrified to see her mother and siblings, begs Holly to accompany her on a visit to Esther’s mother before she dies. But can their journey to a conflicting world heal their emotional wounds and finally bring them home?

Set in the heart of contemporary Lancaster County, Leaving Lancaster explores the power of forgiveness, family reconciliation, and love where least expected.

My Review: 

Life as a she knows it comes to an abrupt halt when Holly Fisher discovers she has a family. Not just any family, but hundreds of cousins, aunts, uncles, and even a grandmother - in the heart of Lancaster County. Lloyd does an excellent job of conveying the vast array of emotions with the three main characters and gives us a unique glimpse of what actions and consequences have cost three generations of women. Holly has the least blame in everything, but she still stubbornly holds on to anger and resentment at her mother for withholding knowledge of her family's whereabouts.   

Now for the one thing that drove me nuts about Holly. Oh, she shaped up and turned out to be a great lead character, but her behavior in the beginning was absolutely terrible. I could hardly believe that any adult would act the way she did. I was very happy to see a change of attitude, and she did a complete 180 in the course of the book. Her entire viewpoint drastically changes and she becomes the woman she was meant to become. Lloyd writes with an above stellar perspective on love, relationships and what it means to truly be a family. 

This book was provided by the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.