Can two people in the autumns of their lives put the past behind them and trust in the hope that comes with each new season?
The past filled her mind even as her heart yearned for stories yet to be told…
The mother of ten and a widow of seven years, Mary Katherine is a bundle of energy, always willing to step in and help her friends around her Amish community. Now that her last child is married, she pours her abundant creative spirit into writing stories, even as she speaks aloud to her late husband every day. Her dream is to open a bookstore with an English friend, but the church elders want this wayward widow to work in an Amish-owned store instead. When her old school friend, Ezekiel, offers her a position as a cook in the restaurant he opened after his wife died, she knows she should accept. But does she really want to spend her time slaving over a stove?
When a mysterious English stranger breaks into her house to make himself a sandwich one autumn night, Mary Katherine doesn’t call the sheriff. She turns to Ezekiel. They both see that Burke is need of more than a meal, and Ezekiel offers him the job at the restaurant.
As they set out to care for their new friend, Mary Katherine and Ezekiel find themselves often working together. Mary Katherine is drawn to Ezekiel, but she remembers the terrible risk of giving her heart to someone. Can two people in the autumns of their lives and so well-versed in the pain of loss put the past behind them and trust in the hope that comes with each new season?
Through the Autumn Air Audiobook Sample
-Review-
In Irvin’s enjoyable third Every Amish Season novel (after Beneath the Summer Sun), widow Mary Katherine Ropp faces pressure from her 10 children to move out of her large house and into a “dawdy haus” (an Amish retirement home) as other grandparents do. But Mary Katherine has plans of her own: even though she knows it’s a sign of “pride and vanity, twin sins,” she has writerly aspirations and wants to start a bookstore with her English friend, Dottie.
When a hungry itinerant man appears in her house, spirited Mary Katherine takes him under her wing for the simple reasons that he is curious about the Amish and has “a way of talking that was delightful.” While the community attempts to make her work in an Amish store, her lack of submissiveness draws the censure of the “fierce threesome”—the bishop, the deacon, the minister—and her disapproving eldest son, Thomas. However, Mary Katherine is not cowed, and, along with widower Ezekiel Miller, she embarks on a second rumspringa. Irvin’s fun story is simple (like Mary Katherine, who finds “every day is a blessing and an adventure”) but very satisfying. (Aug.)
Harold Wolf
5.0 out of 5 stars A realistic adventure in life and aging, good even for non-Amish readers
August 14, 2018
Format: Paperback
An endearing storybook revelation of what aging encompasses. Love. Passions. Health. Grief. All Gott’s plan. Kelly Irvin brings this to true-life understanding. She has told it honestly. Correctly. This setting is an Amish community, but Englischers pass through the same senior growing pains. At 70, I can attest to the reality of all that “Through the Autumn Air” includes. Been there, tread every step.
Recommended reading for men and women over 50. Also for the younger, better for them to understand their elders’ struggles. And a portent to their future. Pages include shivers of delight.
Life’s hills and valleys—smoothed by love.
It’s a wunderbarr series. I also suggest “Upon a Spring Breeze” and “Beneath the Summer Sun”; books #1 & #2. There is one season to go in this series. A 4-book series, not the traditional three. I’m glad. I wish for another.
Kelly Irvin offers a good Kindle novella with close ties to this same Amish community. You’ll recognize characters.
“The Midwife’s Dream”
Kelly Irvin returns to her Every Amish Season series with “Through the Autumn Air.”Mary Katherine is a mother to 10 children and a widow and has kept busy with all of her children, as well as her friends. Now, as her last child marries, she begins to write stories to fill her time. When an English friend comes up with an idea to open a bookstore, Mary Katherine is interested, but the church thinks it is too worldly and would rather she work at a local Amish store. An old friend, Ezekiel, offers her a job at his restaurant as a cook. When a man breaks into her house to make himself a sandwich, she turns to Ezekiel for help. It turns out Burke is in need of a job, and Ezekiel feels compelled to help. As Mary Katherine and he work together to help their new friend, will they find a new romance sparking between the two of them. With warm, loving characters and a touching storyline, this will entertain and make readers think.
