Love Finds You In Homestead Iowa by Melanie Dobson
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Summerside Press (March 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935416669

Times are hard in 1894. Desperate for work, former banker Jacob Hirsch rides the rails west from Chicago with his four-year-old daughter, Cassie. When a life-threatening illness strands the pair in Homestead, Iowa, the local Amana villagers welcome the father and daughter into their peaceful society. Liesel, a young Amana woman, nurses Cassie back to health, and the Homestead elders offer Jacob work. But Jacob’s growing interest in Liesel complicates his position in the Amanas. Will he fight to stay in the only place that feels like home, even if it means giving up the woman he loves? Or will Liesel leave her beloved community to face the outside world with Jacob and Cassie at her side?

I really enjoyed this book. I’d never heard of the Amanas until I read this novel. Jacob has fallen on hard times and he’s desperate to find a way to care for his ill daughter, Cassie. When he hops on a train and then randomly gets off at the Amanas, he finds someone who can help his daughter to heal from a dreadful disease. However, although Jacob’s physical health is in danger, his spiritual health is a bit weak, too. He finds himself smitten with Liesel, one of the Amana people. When the couple are quarantined together, they talk and Liesel discovers that she has deeper feelings for Jacob than she has for her fiancé (who happens to to be the baker in their community). However, Liesel can’t fall in love and be with an outsider, and try as hard as she can, she just can’t shake these deep feelings she’s developing for Jacob and his young daughter Cassie.

There was also a slightly suspenseful side story involving stolen money and Jacob’s old employer at the bank that I found intriguing.

I especially liked the fact that I learned a lot about the Amanas! They’re a Plain sect of people that no longer exist. They lived apart from the world and were pretty self-sufficient. They didn’t get paid for their labors. All of their work went back into the community and from what I understand, they would get ration coupons to purchase personal goods from the general store. Land, homes, buildings, etc. were all owned by the Society and there were only some personal items that each person might own. This way of life sounded a bit stifling, but I thought it was intriguing, too. I felt more comfortable reading about the Amanas than the Shakers. I found the Amanas sect was more Biblically based than the Shakers and I could actually imagine myself living among them for awhile…unlike the Shakers!

If you want to learn something new and you like intriguing, emotionally-charged stories, then this book is for you!

~Cecelia Dowdy~