The First Love: A Review

One of my favorite authors is Beverly Lewis and I especially enjoy her fiction books about Amish people.

Beverly Lewis, born in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country, is the New York Times bestselling author of more than one hundred books. Her books have been published in twelve languages worldwide. A keen interest in her mother’s Plain heritage has inspired Beverly to write many Amish-related novels, beginning with The Shunning, which has sold more than one million copies and is an Original Hallmark Channel movie.

The First Love is one of her most recent titles and was published in 2018. It is the story of Maggie Esh who in the summer of 1951 is in need of some hope. Sweet-spirited and uncommonly pretty despite struggling with illness, she is used to being treated kindly by the young men of her Old Order Amish church district.

Maggie wishes she were more like other courting-age girls so she could live a normal, healthy life. When tent revival meetings come to the area, the words of the preacher cause her to consider what she knows about faith. Can she learn to trust God even when hope seems a distant dream?

It is a very interestingly written story how she starts to pray for healing and also to read over and over again promises from the Bible that she had not been aware of before. Such as “My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakness…For when I am weak, then am I strong.”

Maggie’s first love was Jimmy but then she thought he probably was just feeling sorry for her because of her physical challenge. Jimmy brings her an advertisement for some natural supplements which he hopes might help Maggie’s Rheumatoid arthritis which seemed to run in the family. When her dad got her a bottle of these supplements, she began to faithfully take them but then she had a real set-back, but she decided she would keep trusting God anyway.

Eventually Jimmy and Maggie communicate enough that Maggie realized that Jimmy truly loved her whether she was well or not and so they began courting and got married. After they were married Jimmy and Maggie’s dad had a special prayer for her and she was healed.

A very heartwarming story with lots of human- interest incidents among family and friends.

Check for this book at your favorite book store or go on line and order here.