Lyndel Keim's life is changed forever after the discovery of two runaway slaves in the barn on her family's farm. She, along with her brother and Nathanial King, feel called upon to do what they can to help end slavery, but they find themselves at odds with their pacifist Amish community.

Nathaniel enlists in the Union Army; her brother Levi joins the ambulance corps, and Lyndel herself works as a nurse, tending the wounded after battle. After Gettysburg, Lyndel must call upon her faith to keep on working, all the while not knowing whether Nathanial or her brother Levi are alive or dead. And when the war is over, will they even have a community to return to, or will they be shunned?

Although I found some of the descriptions of the battle scenes a little bit overly long, I really enjoyed this story. The author did a great job of bringing to life the sadness and the horror of the Civil War, especially when describing Lyndel's work as a nurse, without being gory or too graphic. I could tell he really did his research on the war, writing honestly about it without glorifying it.

This is book 2 in series called Snapshots in History, but it's a totally stand alone story, The other two books in the series take place during World War 1 and World War II, with entirely different characters than are in this story.

I think that even those that aren't into Amish fiction, but enjoy historical fiction set during the time of the Civil War would enjoy this book. ( )

I loved this book. It really drew you in--to both the time of the Civil War and the world of the Amish--without getting too bogged down into gory battle details or too preachy. It was really the best of both worlds. I felt completely invested in Lyndel and Nathaniel's lives, and was very sorry when it came to an end. The conflict between their love for their community and way of life and their commitment to bringing slavery to an end was so well written that I wanted to jump into the world of the book and sign up to help! I can't even tell you how many passages in this book I bookmarked in order to use in the classroom--if not to read out loud to classes to give them a "flavor" of the period, then at least to re-read personally in order remind myself of the story behind the history--but it's a lot. I will definitely be looking for more books by this author, because he truly has a gift for bringing history to life for readers. ( )