The last time Joshua’s father beats Joshua in the woodshed, they accidentally set the woodshed on fire. Joshua’s father is not just Amish, but a revered church deacon. Both father and son are badly burned. Eleven-year-old Joshua escapes, leaving behind his mom, his maimed dad and four sisters. For ten years, 1867 to 1877, Joshua is on the run.  To survive, Joshua has to turn to the hated and feared “English.”

 

Stones in the Road alternates between Joshua’s point of view and his mother’s, Miriam’s. When Miriam is not tending to the farm, the “littles,” and her now disabled husband, Abraham, she searches for Joshua. Abraham tries to dissuade her. He claims Joshua died in the fire. Miriam is undeterred. She goes far afield in her search. She finds refuge not with her community of Amish, but with the enemy, the English, in the form of a kindly neighbor.

 

Both Joshua’s and Miriam’s narrow worlds crack open as they are abandoned by their own people and forced on journeys they never wanted to take. Not until Joshua is a grown man does he finally return home to New Eden and confront his father with the truth. 

 

Before E.B. Moore was a novelist, she was a poet and a sculptor. The discipline of these twin arts shows in her prose: her sentences are plain, vivid, elemental--perfect for this tale of a plain people. And she has done her homework. I won’t soon forget her harrowing account of Joshua’s trip west as he joins a group of Conestoga wagons on the trail west.

 

The plots of both E. B. Moore’s novels, An Unseemly Wife and Stones in the Road, are drawn from family stories from two branches of Amish ancestors who left the fold. She grants rare insight into the ways, values and fears of the Amish. 

Joshua's mother, Miriam, was forced into taking over decision making for the family after her husband, Abraham, was hurt in an accident​.  This was totally out of character for a woman who was Plain.

Joshua endured his father's abuse just because that was the right thing to do when you were Plain.  He completely feared his father, but had no recourse but to run away to avoid more abuse since he knew his father would blame him for the accident.

Joshua ran away to California and had to deal with and live with the English.  Joshua found some good English as well as bad.  

Miriam had to deal with and live with the reality that her son was gone even though she knew he was not dead, but out there somewhere even though everyone said he couldn't have survived the accident that had maimed his father.

In my opinion, Joshua endured more hardships than he had at home and more than Miriam endured even though losing a child is the worst thing in the world.

We follow Joshua as he finds work and families to live with.  He was a sweet character, but felt guilty about not letting his mother know he was alive.  He couldn't let her know for fear of having to face his father's wrath because he would send someone to find him​.  Miriam was a dedicated wife and mother even though she lived with the hope her son was alive, but presumed dead.  Abraham was a character that I did not like at all.

STONES IN THE ROAD takes us into homes and the way of living in the 1800's whether it was a Plain home or an English home. The book dragged a bit, but it was very interesting to see the different, difficult life style of both homes in the 1800's.

STONES IN THE ROAD was about family, about hardships, about survival, about choices, and about God's influence in your life.

I enjoyed the book for the historical aspect.  Ms. Moore's writing style was beautiful along with wonderful description.

I would recommend STONES IN THE ROAD to those folks who want to know more about the customs of Plain people as well as see first-hand the hardships they had every day as well as the hardships of traveling across the country in a wagon train.  4/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation in return for an honest review.

4,5 stars.




I don't think I can write an objective review for this book.
You know this statement? "Don't talk about religion and politics?" I could add also "..and about health insurance in the United States."



I didn't laugh as much as I did reading the first book.
Most of the time I was like this:



- Why why why FGS so many people in one of the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world are still fighting against the statutory health insurance?!

- Why why why special schools for hearing impaired children have such a bad reputation in USA?! Why is it better for a deaf kid to be in a normal school where nobody gives a sh*t about a sign language than to learn in the surroundings of teachers who are professionally specified for it?

- Why didn't Wiley use a pen name when he published Crack Baby?! Didn't he know how cruel children can be? I found it unfair and selfish toward Noah.

*Yes, I know, all these are Stones in the Road. And it's a fiction work. And I should just stop to think too politically. And just start to accept that we have different life, different surroundings and different backgrounds. But it's not easy to ignore all these aspects. Honestly.



And like this:




This book is not a romance. It is a love story. An unconditional love story between a farther and his son.

Do you know how much I love you?
As big as the M-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i?
Bigger!
As big as the ocean?
Bigger!
As big as the sky?
As big as the biggest thing in the world.
What's that?
G-e-o-r-g-e B-u-s-h-'s stupidity.
Who is that?
Never mind. I love you so, so much. Do you believe me?

This book is the first place about a very deep inner connection between Wiley and Noah.

And much more.

Noah..this little man captured my heart.


If you read [b:Shaking the Sugar Tree|20528976|Shaking the Sugar Tree|Nick Wilgus|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389665838s/20528976.jpg|37439070], you won't miss this one. If you didn't...you just have to.

Ya know, I read Shaking The Sugar Tree (twice) and highly anticipated this 2nd installment in the Southern saga of Wiley and Jackson. I was also a little wary, because the first book was so good, and I wasn't quite sure that the 2nd would not have bad sequel syndrome.

I shouldn't have worried!!

With unapologetic frankness and wicked humor, Nick Wilgus delivered an outstanding sequel that's immediately going to my re-read list.

We meet up with Wiley and Jackson again, two years or so after Sugar Tree ended. They're living together in Jackson's house, Noah is approaching his teenage years, and things are about as good and scary with that as they can get.

Papaw is still a riot, Wiley's momma is still the same as she was, his brother Bill is still a bit homophobic (or so Wiley thinks), and Jackson is still off the drugs, and they're engaged and looking forward to getting married, soonish. Wiley still hates his job and his boss, and worries about Noah.

But now Jackson's parents are coming down for a visit.

Holy shitballs, people, if y'all thought Southerners are bad with the judgmental shit, you haven't met Jackson's mother. The woman sweeps into town and immediately establishes herself as a Jugdy McJudgerson, deriding everything and anything, including Wiley and Noah. I hated her on sight.

But I was meant to hate her. She's so offensive, so outrageous, there's really no other reaction possible. Until you see behind her meanness. She's blunt, she's not afraid to speak her mind, and in the end, I actually admired her for her convictions, even if I couldn't necessarily agree with her actions.

When the tornado blows through town (in more than one way), lives are changed forever. And it turns out that Wiley and Jackson both still have some major lessons to learn.

The novel isn't a romance as such, and there's not a single bedroom scene in this book. It's not really about their romantic love story, you see, but about their everyday relationships, and Wiley's struggle with not only Jackson's addiction, but his fears about Noah. There are moments when Wiley nearly buckles under the pressure, when he loses hope entirely and almost makes a stupid decision, and finally learns that despite their disapproval, his family does love him.

And so do the Ledbetters.

What stands out in this novel, as well as the first one, is the unconditional and irrevocable love Wiley has for his son. I don't think that can be emphasized enough. Their relationship and Wiley's feelings for his kid are breathtakingly beautiful.

With tons of snark and sarcasm, typical southern statements and ideologies set against northern frankness, and a heavy dose of realism, this novel delivered on its promise, and then some. I bow to you, Mr. Wilgus. This was extraordinary!

Highly recommended, but do yourself a favor and read the books in sequence. Please though, do read them. You'll miss out on greatness otherwise.


** I received a free copy of this book from its publisher. A positive review was not promised in return. **