Lost and Found
Suzanne Woods Fisher
Revell Books
Sept 26th, 2023
Lost and Found by Suzanne Woods Fisher has a story that looks at change and how someone faces that change. There are hints of romance, dashes of humor, and some drama. Most of the characters in the story explore difficult choices. There is conflict between the Liberal Beachy Amish order, and the more conservative Amish order plus the conflict between those who want to protect the bird sanctuary of Wonder Lake and those who want to build a church, and the conflict between medical doctors and Amish parents.
“I wanted to understand how the Amish relate to each other within the different spectrums from ultra-conservative to very progressive. Those I write about are a little more central. This book brings in both sides that work with each other. Historically there is a concern that the liberal churches would tempt the children away. What is interesting is that the older orders would not have conflicts with the other orders but pack up and move off. This is something I explored. The conservative order sent a scouting team to Tennessee.”
The best part of the story has the heroine, Trudy Yoder, questioning her judgement of falling for Micah Weaver. They were best friends, and it appeared the relationship could go beyond that when he decides to pick up and leave without telling her why. Those who read the related first book, A Season on the Wind, will understand that Micah had strong feelings for Trudy’s sister, Shelley until she left to pursue a music career. Now he receives a message from Shelley to rescue her. After he finds her and brings her back to the Amish town of Stony Ridge things come to a head.
The characters of Trudy, Micah, and Shelly are all interrelated. “In the previous book, A Season on the Wind, Shelley disappears to pursue a music career and broke Micah’s heart. She is Trudy’s sister. In this book, she is leaving him cryptic messages asking for help. Little by little he gets sucked into finding her. He does this by using his birding skills. She was flamboyant and flashy.”
“Micah is the silent type because of his stuttering. He is a loner, dependable, sometimes overreacts. He is extremely intelligent and gifted.”
“Trudy is like the bird, a sparrow. She is plain, loyal, reliable, observant, curious, and likes to take charge. She is easy to overlook. She has a lot of attention to detail. The parents were overprotective of Shelley because of her special needs and by doing this pushed Trudy aside. She has always been the sister in the background.”
A bonus for those who love birds is the bird log entry at the end of each chapter, along with a birder’s glossary.
“Going back two books there is a novel I wrote titled A Season on the Wind. I know that the Amish revere nature, particularly birds. They are stellar bird watchers. They just use patience, maybe expensive scopes. Micah was in that book, a bird lover who also stutters. He is a listener. The little girl in the story is Trudy who is also crazy about birds, but also adores Micah. This current book is not a sequel but a companion book. In the first book Micah wrote bird logs, the kind of bird and descriptions. In this book, Trudy wrote the bird logs. Trudy likes the songbirds, while Micah likes the raptors.”
The story delves into loyalty, devotion, community, and love. It is insightful, inspiring, and thought-provoking with the information provided.
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