1. The Revelation (Abrams Daughters
#5) by Beverly Lewis
What A Terrific Series!!!
Spanning three generations, the compelling novels of the ABRAMS
DAUGHTERS series feature five courting-age sisters, their extended
family, and their quaint Old Order community, whose way of life and faith in
God are as enduring as their signature horse and buggy. Or so it seems...
In this suspenseful conclusion to the series, readers will thrill to another
gripping story with Lewiss trademark captivating twists and turns, and
startling answers to the compelling questions set into motion in the fir st
book, The Covenant. Abrams Daughters Book 5.
Personal Review: The Revelation (Abrams Daughters #5) by
Beverly Lewis

2. I have a connection to Beverly Lewis. She does not know me, nor do
I know her personally; but I have a connection to her and to her stories in
at least two relevant contexts.
(1) I am a Christian with both a philosophical and evang elical
tendency.
(2) I married a Mennonite and have some familiarity with the
Mennonite people.
The consequence of this is that when the author writes about the
Mennonites associated with her Amish characters, I see the characters
as though from the inside out.
For example, though it is a minor observation, when Lewis has her
characters answer in the affirmative, using the expression; "prob''ly,"
this reader can tell you for a fact that the Mennonites (and perhap s Amish
also) literally do, reduce the English word "Prob--A--Bly" from a three
syllable word, to a two syllable word, rhyming with "BOB--LEE". So as I
read her dialogue, there are some distinct, inside jokes for me, because
I had to teach my Mennonite wife to speak proper English, and to stop
saying...PROB-LEE.
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Reviewing Lewis, for me, presents a difficulty, and anyone who has
read any of my reviews for NON-FICTION books will be aware that I can
criticize an author regarding any misuses of Logic, misuses of Fact, and
poorly argued propositions.
However, two issues factor into my reviewing which cause me to
exercize some restraint regarding our dear Ms. Lewis.
(1) She is a sincere and devout Christian, and is therefore to be treated
with a certain amount of consideration.
(2) She is authoring, after all, NOVELS, and these are for purposes of
both entertainment and for providing some cultural education, and so I
must not approach her works as though I were addressing a real world
problem. [I probably actually do that anyway!]
Lewis'' novels, sometimes contain minor errors such as any author
might commit, in the eagerness to get the whole story out, and many of
these things I can overlook. For example, one such error has the author
referring to a man''s "youth" or a mention that he is young, and a couple of

3. pages later, he is "older". [One has to have a very objec tive proofreader
to catch these minor errors.]
All that aside, Lewis possesses terrific powers for storytelling, and for
creating characters which, if we follow them, will elevate us to peaks that
are almost spiritual awakenings. Suffice it to say, when Lewis chooses
to, she can also plunge her readers into a virtual Gothic nightmare of
human angst and pain. Sometimes her characters can appear as
brutish, fanatical and wild-eyed, sadistic, domineering and absolutely
without human feeling.
Then, Lewis will do a surprising thing. As the telling of the story
progresses, more background information is revealed, and the character
who was viewed as so monstrously oppressive, turns out to have
performed an absolutely heroic self sacrifice, and cannot justifiably be
viewed in simple Black & White. One''s entire stereotypical view of the
oppressive character has to be entirely changed.
It reminds me of a conclusion that I reached some years ago, when I
concluded, in a vague, but altogether intense fashion:
"Life-is-a-very-big-thing."
To explain that, would be to invite the reader to understand that nearly
every human being has undergone some very intense dramas, just to get
by in this world. Some people have undertaken massive responsibilities,
and suffered tremendously, often in silence, in the carrying of their
burdens in life. [And so it is with the character ABRAM, whom one seems
to dislike at first, but comes to admire and respect, as the story
progresses. I hope that is not giving too much away.]
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Then, there are some issues for which I might at least offer
some small objective criticism.
SEVERAL BRIEF CRITICISMS:
First, Lewis makes some references to Hunting in her story, without
demonstrating any knowledge of Firearms or Archery. It is most difficult to
determine if the Amish are also Hunting, and if they are using Rifles,
Shotguns, Compound Bows or Longbows and so forth. Vaguely, one
reference is made to ..."bowhunting" which really does not answer any
questions.

4. In another instance, the author makes reference to a hunter in a story
through a woman character, who supposes that Deer Hunting in Season,
with a license, means that a citizen goes around blasting away killling all
the various animals he he sees in an indiscriminate manner, as though it
was an Amish "Pest Hunt".
The author also did not make it entirely clear from the outset of her
books, that Amish farmers, or at least some of them, raise tobacco to
make their own Cigars, and also produce some "Moonshine" alcohol for
their own consumption. The peculiarity about this distinction, is that
Mennonites never use either Tobacco or Alcohol.
BRIEFER CRITICISM:
I think I encountered a couple of sentences that, in the reading of them,
just about tied my tongue in KNOTS. (I read aloud).
THE ALCOHOL "RECOVERY" ISSUE:
In her story, Lewis develops a character with an apparent Alcohol
problem. Thereafter, as other characters attempt to work with the man
and his "Moonshine" problem, Lewis has a character make
reference to a proposition for his RECOVERY.
Specifically, what the character suggests, is the idea that the man
should meet with the Bishop and so on, until he:
(1) Gets the WILLPOW ER, to overcome his Alchohol problem
and
(2) Develops the strength to CONTROL his drinking.
I do not mean to "beat up" the author for demonstrating what amounts
to common social misunderstandings regarding persons with actual
Alcohol problems. However, I think an author must be careful about
attempting to apply their own intuitive understandings as to the means and
methodologies by which people in modern life actually deal with such
problems.
Actual Recovery programs almost never propose to those with Alcohol
problems that they will ever obtain the WILL POWER to obtain
CONTROL of the problem. In fact, recovery from Alcoholism is found
through a kind of turning one''s life and WILL over to the care of God.
And Lewis, for the very reason that she is overtly EVANGELICAL in
her novels, having her characters openly advocate developing a personal
prayer relationship with Jesus Christ, ought to know something about a

5. genuine spirituality as would be expressed by a "generic" humanity, and
not merely a "mennonite" humanity.
In fact, it is by logic ANTI-THETICAL, to propose at one and the
same time, a reliance upon Jesus Christ and PRAYER, while also
proposing that a person exercise WILL-POWER and PERSONAL
CONTROL. Such propositions are entirely ANTI-THETICAL.
The proposition that a person "accept Jesus Christ" in a personal way,
as a savior, contains at least, the seed for the proposition that one is
yielding to God the CONTROL and the personal WILL regarding one''s
own life.
It leads to other difficulties with the evangelical messages which Lewis
develops through the characters; because the
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