Though Mountains Fall (Review)

Though Mountains Fall, by Dale Cramer, is the third book in his “The Daughters of Caleb Bender” series.  This series follows the story of a group of Amish families who, in search of freedom from government control, begin a new community in Paradise Valley, Mexico. The books follow their struggles as they try to forge a new life while dealing with bandits, government corruption, violence, and isolation from their former church. One of the daughters falls in love with a Mexican man and is banned from the Amish church, while her family struggles between acting in love versus following the church’s rules.

Having read the first two books in the series, I was anxious to read this volume as well, in order to continue the story. I enjoy other Amish fiction, but this series is a bit different. There is quite a bit of page-turning suspense interspersed with the struggles with  relationships and faith that one might expect in this genre. I thought it was a good mix. It was interesting to see how some of the characters came to question some of their long-held beliefs and to deepen their understanding of God as they were forced to intermingle with “outsiders.”

My only concern with the book is one that I commonly have with books in a series—I think that someone picking this book up  first, instead of reading the books in order, might have trouble getting into the storyline.

This inspiration for this series came from an actual Amish community that settled in Mexico in the 1920’s.

I received a free copy of this book from Bethany House in order to write this review. All opinions are my own.