Book Review: Upon A Spring Breeze by Kelly Irvin

Upon A Spring Breeze

By Kelly Irvin

An every Amish season novel
Book review by Chrystal Berche

Currently located in the browsing section at the Charles City Public Library, this wonderful Amish romance explores the themes of loss, grief and picking up the pieces, in addition to growth, motherhood, and the bonds of family.

 

While some bury their pain in hard work and prayer, some question the whys and the fairness of the death of someone so young, vibrant, and beloved. For Bess, having only been a wife for a year, and with her first child on the way, the sudden death of her husband causes her to question her place in her family as well as the community. Becoming a mother should have been a joyous time in her life, instead, all she sees when she looks at her son is the husband she lost and the father he’ll never know.

 

Taking solace in her love of gardening, she works first on the areas around her home and later, at a nearby Bed and Breakfast owned by an Englisch couple, whose son befriends her, despite the difference in their backgrounds.

 

For a sweet romance, this novel does touch on some heavy topics, not just the loss of a husband/son, but the way his widow and his mother both struggle to reconcile his absence from their lives. It also shows a father’s struggle to acknowledge the onset of dementia in his wife, the hole the loss of a son leaves in his life and how he seeks to fill it, and the struggles of the departed’s best friend, who made a promise he is desperate to keep, even while threatened with the loss of his livelihood.

 

Despite it all, family, community, and friendships cast a bright light on the heavier topics, sweeping the reader into the world of this little Amish community and the hearts of those who dwell there.