November Rains: Time to Curl Up with Pie and a Book

Ah. Autumn in Oregon.

Today is a perfect example: I’m sitting indoors, cozy with a cup of homemade spearmint and lemon verbena tea (thanks to my day job in a school, including horticulture class), as the rains pound the outdoors. As of yesterday, I’m caught up with my graduate studies. And so it’s time to write a little. And what better to write about than a couple of perfectly cozy books and one of my all-time favorite true heroines?

Here at Compass Rose Queen, we celebrate the journeys of women, both fictional and historical. So today I bring to you a review of two books in a sweet inspirational romance series, each with a strong-willed young woman, and a quick account of one of the most revered heroines of World War II.

In Hillary Manton Lodge’s “Plain & Simple” series, we travel into the world of a fictional Amish community in contemporary Oregon. I have the pleasure of knowing Hillary from a church camp we both worked at, and now I have the pleasure of reading her fun books!

The first book, Plain Jayne, offers a glimpse of a modern Amish community through the eyes of a city girl. Jayne Tate is a motorcycle-riding Portland newspaper reporter. After the death of her father, her boss orders her to take some time off. But Jayne is determined to find a killer feature story, so she relocates to an Amish community to do research, hoping for some peace as well. Meeting Levi Burkholder wasn’t part of her plans, however…

This book was so much fun to read. I swore off romance novels years ago as cheesy escapism. This one, however, is anything but cheesy. Jayne’s witticisms and the sweet Amish family she stays with sucked me in like a tart but sweet piece of pie. (And trust me, there’s plenty of pie in the story itself, too). And I love a good story of culture clashes. I think that’s one of the quintessential journeys of the human race: feeling like an outsider and trying to see if we belong.

At the end of the story, Levi’s sister Sara embarks on the exact opposite journey as Jayne: she hides in Jayne’s trunk, leaving Amish country for the big city of Portland. The second book in the series, Simply Sara, follows Sara’s pursuit of a career and a life in the “English” world. Through Sara’s eyes we see our own culture from an outsider’s point of view. A village girl with big city dreams, Sara’s journey to find where she belongs mirrors Jayne’s, but in a different way. I won’t tell you where Sara and Jayne end their stories, but both have sweet family reconciliations, a deeper understanding of faith, and of course, romance.

So curl up with both of these books and a piece of pie and a cup of green tea (Jayne’s favorite). And read to the rhythm of the rain on the roof.

For my history highlight, I’d like to remind the world of one of the bravest women of all time. During the Holocaust, Corrie ten Boom and her family hid many Jews from the clutches of the Nazis in her native Holland. Because of this, her family was arrested and sent to concentration camps. She and her sister, Betsie, managed to stay together for a while, bringing each other what joy could be had in such a horrendous place. But they found a hidden joy: bringing light to a dark prison.

Corrie and Betsie encouraged the other prisoners. However, they also prayed for their enemies, the various people who ran the concentration camp. There are so many quotes and stories about these amazing women and what they did with what they were given. The one about her forgiving one of her prison guards years later always moves me to tears. But I encourage you to read Corrie’s own book, The Hiding Place, to hear her story in her own words.

Corrie traveled against her will from her home in Haarlem, Holland, to the women’s extermination camp of Ravensbruck, Germany. But through it all, Corrie and her sister encouraged each other’s faith and even found joy in the midst of suffering. After the war, Corrie traveled to countries around the world to spread her message of hope and forgiveness. She died on her ninety-first birthday in 1983 in California.

As we approach Veteran’s Day, let us remember those who risked their lives during times of war for the sake of others, whether as military personnel or as civilians. And we should celebrate the ones still with us by sharing time together, and of course, some pie…

References:

Plain Jayne by Hillary Manton Lodge. Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon. 2010.

Simply Sara by Hillary Manton Lodge. Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon. 2010.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, with Elizabeth and John Sherrill. Chosen Books 1971, Bantam edition 1974.