Book Review: The Redemption of Sarah Cain

The Redemption of Sarah Cain, by Beverly Lewis

I’m hopelessly stereotyped as a reader. People look no further than my long hair and feminine mannerisms to assume that I’m a die-hard romance reader. They naturally place me in the category of people who read Karen Kingsbury, Wanda Brunstetter, and Beverly Lewis.
They place me with the people who cry in chick flicks and can’t stand it when characters have to suffer anything other than emotional angst over the boy they love.
They’re wrong.
I’m actually a suspense reader. My favorite authors include Ted Dekker and Sigmund Brouwer. I like books that play with my mind (a.k.a., psychological thrillers) and that make my heart race. I HATE the romance genre (any book I think I can predict in the first chapter generally loses my respect very quickly) and so, when I put The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis on hold at the library, I really had no idea what I was thinking.
But I’ve been more than a little pleasantly surprised. Not only did I not have the story figured out in the first chapter, but I’ve been kept entertained and hooked through the whole book, even as a self-declared non-romance reader.
Recently publicized when its movie counterpart Saving Sarah Cain came out,The Redemption of Sarah Cain tells the story of a self-absorbed, hurting journalist whose sister bequeaths to her five Amish children, now orphaned. Told in both Sarah’s perspective and her oldest niece Lyddie’s, this story is hugely moving in a completely un-preachy way. Rich story from Sarah’s past, Lyddie and her siblings’ past and present and journal excerpts from Lyddie and her mother litter this book, giving it a real-life feel.
The Redemption of Sarah Cain, as its title suggests, is about Sarah Cain finding God, but above and beyond that, this is the story of how, no matter what, God has a big plan. Sarah Cain can’t see the reasons for a tragedy in her early career as a teacher, her sister’s leaving to become Plain. Lyddie and her siblings can’t see a reason for their mother and father’s death, why she should have to live with a woman who is so obviously against everything their family stands for. But through it all, Beverly Lewis writes the story of God’s love and faithfulness throughout the book.
So, even if you, like me, don’t “do romance”, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.