Leaving Lancaster (#01 in Legacy Of Lancaster Trilogy Series)

Almost forty years have passed since Esther Gingerich and Samuel Fisher ran away from their Amish upbringing in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and headed west to live in a hippie commune and sing on the streets of San Francisco. They married, Samuel was drafted, shipped off to Vietnam and declared MIA, leaving Esther to raise their daughter alone because she was too proud to return to her family. Holly grew up believing her grandparents were dead, so it comes as a complete shock to her when Esther announces her intention to visit their Amish family - and wants Holly to come too. The story alternates between being told in the first person (by 37-year-old Holly) and the third person (from the point of view of Esther, Holly's mother). I continually found myself backtracking to the beginning of the chapter because I hadn't picked up the change. Combining first person and third person doesn't ring true for me. It reminds me that I'm just reading a story about a bunch of made-up characters. Overall, I can't say that I enjoyed Leaving Lancaster. Plot-wise, it wasn't bad, with an underlying theme of honesty and forgiveness. But I found the writing style too distracting to allow me to get into and enjoy the story. \\r\\n\\r\\nThanks to David C Cook and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review. \\r\\n