The Quieting by Suzanne Woods Fisher

It was a well-laid plan—but it wasn’t her plan…

It’s all her grandmother’s fault. For the last few months, Abigail Stoltzfus has helped her father with his genealogical research, hoping that breaking through a client’s brick wall would also break his melancholy. But now her intrusive grandmother has set her sights on marrying off Abigail and insists she come to Stoney Ridge, where there is a plethora of eligible bachelors.

Except that Mammi is mistaken. There are no eligible bachelors in Stoney Ridge, barring one, and he’s all wrong. Dane Glick has the wrong last name and the wrong relatives—including the bishop who is at odds over a church matter with Abigail’s uncle, minister David Stoltzfus.

As the conflict grows, setting family against family, it’s becoming clear that the path to a solution may lead to a Quieting—a removal of a church leader. But for which one? And when Abigail stumbling onto a curious connection during her genealogical research, it could help David solve one problem—but will it create another?

 

The Quieting is the second book in Suzanne Woods Fisher’s The Bishop’s Family series, coming after The Imposter. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, and I was dying to know what happened next, so I picked up this book to start it the same day as I finished the first one. To be honest, I actually finished this story fairly quickly, but I just couldn’t help it! I had to know what was going to happen with Freeman and that whole situation, and everything else that was going on in Stoney Ridge. I can’t say I saw many of the twists and turns coming throughout this novel, but I did love every single one of them as, in my opinion, they developed the story perfectly!

Abigail Stoltzfus was not my favorite character throughout much of this novel. As I got to know her, however, I did grow to like her, but it was definitely difficult for me to get past some of her more annoying qualities. Now, that isn’t to say anything against Suzanne or the way she wrote this book, because I loved it and this isn’t an issue I have with the writing. Suzanne purposely wrote the story this way; Abigail was annoying to most of the people around her, though she didn’t really mean to be. She just, has a few interesting qualities. And that’s okay. She definitely makes up for it in the end, and you really can’t help but love her when you see her vulnerability.

This book also focuses on a few other characters, namely Jesse Stoltzfus, Katrina’s brother who we met in book one, and David Stoltzfus, the minister we also met in book one who is both Katrina’s father and Abigail’s uncle (Katrina is the main character from The Imposter). I really enjoyed getting to continue their stories, though I wish Katrina had been featured more as well. However, I really did enjoy getting to pick back up on Jesse and David’s stories, and I loved reading how they ended up.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book, and am super excited for the third book in the series—The Devoted—which releases in October. This story was super cute and sweet, and was definitely easy to read, so I can happily give it four out of five bookshelves. I enjoyed the ending, and loved how things worked out, but I’m so unhappy with the fact that I was left hanging on a few major points and have to wait so long to finally figure out what happens next!

Happy reading!

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All credit for the italicized synopsis goes to Suzanne Woods Fisher and Revell Publishing.