A separate God? Musingly, I remembered the question of my childhood. We were outsiders now. Perhaps there was no separate God, but only varying degrees of the same God. Perhaps he expected more from some than others...' Raised in an Old Order Amish family, Rachel, much like many young girls, dreamed of living a life of joy and freedom. However, her stringent upbringing prevented her from embracing the life she imagined. A Separate God by Lucinda Streiker-Schmidt follows Rachel through her pilgrimage from beneath the shackles of oppression, abuse, and dissatisfaction into the pillar of the liberty of self discovery. After years of reluctantly submitting to their rigid principles, Rachel finally finds the courage to resist the Old Order Amish structure and discover healing from a culture which altered far more than just her appearance and habits. Streiker-Schmidt explores an Amish society more complex than the somber garb they wear and the horse-drawn carriages they use, but one which is as riddled with hypocrisy as the great society-a world Rachel struggled unendingly to adapt to. Lucinda resides in a Midwestern town and maintains close relationships with her family, treasuring time spent with them, and her friends, both secular and Amish.