Customer Reviews

Anathema

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In Anathema, Colleen brings her fiction to Indiana for the first time, this time in the heart of Parke County and a close-knit Amish community. This book is richly layered with conflict. But it's not all external conflict related to finding the killer and staying alive.

Hannah is so conflicted about the Amish faith she abandoned and the problems that she created for herself when she left. She has a hard time separating those she controlled from the ones she didn't ask for...and is left paralyzed. She's also running scared from her abusive husband, but he's found the one tool that could drag her back to him. Matt hides a secret from Hannah that can only destroy the relationship they may have. But he doesn't see that he has a choice. He's also torn between duty and the past.

Add in a host of supporting characters, and the texture and twists of the plot form a tangled weave that pulled me through the pages and chapters. I have to admit, I did not fully guess the killer. I was close -- only the person I thought was the killer was the accomplice.

This is definitely not your typical Amish Story. I didn't think I would make it though the first chapter. The decisions that Hannah Schwartz had made when she was younger, made things turn from bad to worse for her. Hannah soon discovers that it's better to look before you leap into a big decision like marriage. Things are definitely not what they seemed to be at first.

She is thrown into a world so unlike her own, it's disturbing at best. She thought she knew what she was doing. She had entered a nightmare she never dreamed possible. God would understand her wanting out. She had tried her best to get out for many years. She was trapped and just can't live like this anymore. She gets a chance to escape this nightmare and she takes it.

After Hannah escapes she discovers that life could be so freeing, so full of hope. With a successful book completed and another one in the works, Hannah seems to have it all. But in order to complete her book, she has to go home - that's where this second book is leading her. "Home" -- a word that brought to mind dread of her past but yet a desire to belong again, all at the same time. She knew that she could never go home and be accepted; too much has happened in her life. She left after she was baptized into the faith, so she knew what she was doing when she walked away from the church and the Amish way of life.

She is home in the Amish community for such a short time and a murder occurs. She goes to the police and says "We are Amish. We abhor violence. If you look through your files, I doubt you'll find a single case of one of us breaking the law. No one is our community kills.." This can't be happening again she thinks after saying this to the officer. She thought the worst was behind her, and now she is back and trouble is starting again!!

The theme of forgiveness runs through this book for Hannah and the other people in her village. Hannah and the others soon discover, in a huge way, that forgiveness truly sets you free. When you forgive someone, you are not bound to that person anymore; the pain is drained from your heart, mind and emotions, and you can truly begin to live life free of the pain that bound you.

This story was full of mystery, suspense, murder and betrayal. On the flip side it was full of love, intrigue, forgiveness and redemption. This book has it all! Not what I expected in an Amish story. I was delighted!!

I LOVED how Colleen wrapped this story up in quilts. I LOVE quilts. Each chapter starts with a quote from Hannah Schwartz's book called "The Amish Faith Through Their Quilts". By the end of this book, I really wanted to look in Hannah's 'fictional' book she wrote. I wanted to see this book that was filled with the amazing quilts mentioned at the top of each chapter. Hannah is also in search of a special quilt that will lead to her family's killer. I haven't read a story like this ever. I know the quilts and a love that Hannah discovers, helped me to keep reading through the abusive husband parts.

This book will also inspire you to make some of the quilts and perhaps do a Google search on Amish quilts. The characters in this story will stay with you for quite some time after finishing the story. So treat yourself to a very different and amazing story by Colleen Coble. You won't be disappointed!

Finding Hope Through Fiction
[...]

Amish fiction is very popular right now, but Coble has a fresh take on it that shouldn't be missed. There's something very disturbing about murder in the peaceful Amish community, and that juxtaposition is a great hook.

Coble writes a page-turner here, one also filled with a sweet love story, great characters, and stellar writing. Amish suspense at its best!

I have read many books about the Amish and this it top of the line. Couldn't wait to get home from a stressful day and get back in the book. I hope there is a #2 with the characters. There was an element of suspense and I would recommend it to anyone.

Colleen Coble slices up a small, intriguing section of the Amish life for us, while throwing in a great mystery. The main characters are real, believable, and easy to identify with. I love her descriptions of Amish life, and I even learned a few things about their culture. Great book, great author--Highly recommended!

A damp, chilly wind blows through Park County, Indiana, the night Hannah Schwartz sneaks away to meet Reece by the covered bridge. She knows her love for this Englisch police detective is taboo in her Amish world, but she can't resist just a few clandestine moments with the man who makes her feel safe while sending her heart racing. Their encounter is brief and painful as Hannah is once again torn between her family, her Amish fiancé and the love she harbors for her secret Englisch suitor. She flees his arms for the safe harbor of her home, only to encounter a gruesome scene.

Both parents have been poisoned, their stiff, constricted bodies covered by one of her mother's handmade quilts. When their lives are taken away, so too are thousands of dollars worth of Mamms' quilts. Two strange blood red symbols mar the wall of the living room. Reece knows that one is the symbol of peace, but does it have another meaning as well? Something far more sinister? Nearby, a neighbor's poisoned body is discovered half submerged in a pond.

Shattered beyond consolation, Hannah wonders if the deaths are her punishment for partaking in a forbidden love. Her heart heavy, laden with pain and guilt, she decides that she has been rejected by God and will leave her Amish community to marry Reece. She is now Anathema, an outcast to God and her people. It isn't long before Reece's true colors show through and the bullying begins. As she endures years of abuse at Reece's hands, Hannah desperately searches for the exquisite stolen quilts, a tangible link to her murdered parents. She knows exactly how to spot her mother's work, so bold and beautiful that the hummingbird designs nearly fly off the expertly sewn patchwork.

During a heated argument with Reece, Hannah suffers a tragic fall and awakens in the hospital, where Reece tells her that their unborn baby girl did not survive. Hannah is convinced the fall was no accident and leaves Reece to reinvent herself in the Englisch world, where her knowledge of quilts and Amish life leads her to success as an author. On the surface, all is well, but Hannah misses the love of her family and friends, and aches even more for the faith she left behind.

Although the book moves at a quick pace from the start, the real page-turning action begins when Hannah receives a letter from Reece containing a photo of a little girl. The child's almond eyes and unruly auburn hair, so like her own, leads Hannah to wonder if Reece's claim is true --- that the child is their daughter. She heads back to her homeland on a journey wrought with heartache, mystery, deceit and love in a plot that continues to twist and turn until the very end. A decade after she fled Park County, Hannah realizes she was never Anathema to the God who loves her unconditionally. I highly recommend a box of tissues for the last couple of chapters.

Colleen Coble's extensive research and Amish friendships come shining through the characters and imagery of this action-filled story. The devotion to God, peaceful lifestyle and tranquil farms beckon readers to indulge in the experience of visiting an Amish community. Descriptions of warm, damp greenhouses, simple furnishings and the sweet, creamy taste of coffee soup are woven through the pages of this novel like the patterns of a quilt. In addition to a spellbinding story, readers will come away from this book with interesting facts about Amish quilts and what their patterns mean to those who create them.

--- Reviewed by Susan Miura

This book was phenomenal. It's a book that should be made into a movie.
My only disappointment was the last page.

What can you expect when a skilled mystery author, puts her mind to a multiple murder suspense that takes place in a Christian Amish community in Indiana. Family struggles abound after Hannah runs off with an English deputy following her parents' murders. Life for her goes downhill from there. But then some success. But, she's drawn to return to her Amish community after seeing a photo. is it real? Her inner struggle with God, life, forgiveness, murder, and Quilt book publishing, all take a toll as she's caught in a web of complicated clues and dead ends. Additional murders and attacks take place leaving her, her family, police, and others caught in the crossfire. Plenty of suspense.

And with all the skill that Colleen Coble has in her writing, a romance comes from nowhere, forgiveness is sought and found in the Amish way. Coble herself states inspiration came from the Amish schoolhouse attack at Nickel Mines. Indiana Amish are different. Coble knows that, being an Indiana author. Her presentation of the Indiana Amish is right on accurate, I live near them too. Her explanation of Amish forgiveness is the same as presented in "Amish Grace" (also recommended/see my reviews) by Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt (Indiana expert), & Weaver-Zercher. This is a delightful setting showing the gentleness and faith of the Amish followers. Hats off to this author for accuracy, showing Amish as more than just a curiosity people group. And you can almost smell new mown hay...and horses.

I agree with Karen Kingsbury, "A master storyteller...", she calls Colleen Coble. This book is recommended first to murder mystery fans, then suspense lovers, then Christian fiction readers, plus romance buyers, and those looking for family oriented...WOW...it's amazing that a murder mystery ends up being also recommended for family relationships. That's how good this book is. Something for everyone--for real!

"Anathema" is just like Indiana weather, if you crave something different--some of what you are currently getting, read on a few more pages, it will change, and then again and again...just like Hoosier weather.

Thank you Colleen Coble. And may we, PLEASE, have an Indiana Amish series?

If you think an Amish quilt is just for covering, think again! Colleen Coble's latest novel, Anathema, is so much more than "just another Amish tale." Something is amiss in the heart of Amish country and you won't rest until you find out what it is! An exciting read from start to finish, you won't want to miss this one!

I loved the book. It had all the page turning suspence that I have come to expect from Colleen Coble. It was a little different in that it dealt with the Amish people and their traditions, but I found them very interesting.