W. Dale Cramer, Levi's Will

Thanks to Bethany House Publishers for the review copy. In Levi's Will, Cramer brings the modern-day Amish community to life. He crafts a powerful story of a son, Will, who leaves the Amish community of his birth under a cloud of disgrace to find his way in the world. Eventually he reestablishes contact with his family, but his reception is mostly cold, especially from his father, Levi, who considers Will to be under the ban imposed on him for his youthful waywardness. As the years go by, and he is embroiled in a complicated relationship with his own son, does he begin to see his father's actions mirrored in his own. Over many years, Will is brought back into the fellowship of the family, and receives absolution of sorts from his father. A forgiveness that likewise brings him back to God as well.

This is a well-written book that explores the imperfections in a father's relationship with his son, and how those can sometimes be unwittingly passed on to subsequent generations. But it is also a story of forgiveness, both withheld and granted. And it becomes even more powerful when you read the author's 2009 Afterword to the book (originally published in 2005), which tells of how the book is a relatively close parallel to the experience of the author's own father. Or, at least, it was except for the ending. He hadn't experienced the the same reconciliation, and was still under a ban and outside the fellowship of his sister's Old Order Amish family. But after the publication of the book, he was encouraged by his sister's children to write an appeal to the bishop asking forgiveness for the sins of his youth, a forgiveness which he eventually received. So the (real) story ends with a happy reunion of long-estranged family. As Cramer summarizes it, "Only God can get away with an ending like that" (396).