GENRE: HISTORICAL FICTION / YOUNG ADULT
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WHEN SPARROWS FALL
by Diana Blackstone
Sometimes doing the right thing means risking it all.When Susanna discovers her neighbor's dangerous secret, will she stand up for what she knows is right or save herself?
After her father is killed in a wagon accident on their way to Virginia, 13-year-old Susanna's world is further upended when her mother marries her father's bitter widowed brother. Thrust into a new tight-knit Mennonite community and new family, with a cousin-turned-stepsister who despises her, it seems as if Susanna's world can't get worse. As Susanna struggles to adjust, she becomes obsessed with the mysterious outcast next door, an older woman known in the community as Aunt Lydia. Her stepfather's edict not to step foot onto Aunt Lydia's property only fuels Susanna's curiosity. Unable to sleep late one night, Susanna peers out her window and unwittingly discovers a dangerous secret. After she learns the truth about the nighttime visitors streaming through Aunt Lydia's barn, a crisis forces her to make a terrible choice: Turn her back on desperate people or destroy her family’s fragile new bonds and, like her neighbor, face shunning by the community? Faced with an excruciating decision, will Susanna risk the lives of innocents or be forever branded an outcast? If you're a fan of historical fiction, you'll love this redeeming story of courage and forgiveness. |