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Anathema | 
| Author: Colleen Coble
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
Buy New: $14.85
You Save: $8.14 (35%)
New (29) Used (3) from $14.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 87920
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 1595542477
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9781595542472
ASIN: 1595542477
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: *BRAND NEW* Hardcover. Fresh from the publisher with No remainder marks and No price tags. We are FAST!! Check our feedback! Ships next day in padded envelope with barcoded address, delivery confirmation, and tracking number.
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Product Description
Welcome to Parke County, Indiana--land of peaceful farms and covered bridges, Amish quilts and horse drawn buggies, romance and murder.
After years of running, Hannah Schwatrz has finally built a life for herself--far from the insecure husband who bullied and abused her. Far from the close-knit Amish community who raised her, then shunned her. Still haunted by nightmare memories of her parents' murder and the guilty secret that made her anathema--a true outcast--from her friends and family.
Only love can bring her home again. Love for a child she had feared was lost forever. And love for the peaceful people who shaped her life. But can love heal old wounds . . . or keep the community safe from a deadly danger?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
A spellbinding story with interesting facts about Amish quilts and what their patterns mean to those who create them July 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A damp, chilly wind blows through Park County, Indiana, the night Hannah Schwartz sneaks away to meet Reece by the covered bridge. She knows her love for this Englisch police detective is taboo in her Amish world, but she can't resist just a few clandestine moments with the man who makes her feel safe while sending her heart racing. Their encounter is brief and painful as Hannah is once again torn between her family, her Amish fiance and the love she harbors for her secret Englisch suitor. She flees his arms for the safe harbor of her home, only to encounter a gruesome scene.
Both parents have been poisoned, their stiff, constricted bodies covered by one of her mother's handmade quilts. When their lives are taken away, so too are thousands of dollars worth of Mamms' quilts. Two strange blood red symbols mar the wall of the living room. Reece knows that one is the symbol of peace, but does it have another meaning as well? Something far more sinister? Nearby, a neighbor's poisoned body is discovered half submerged in a pond.
Shattered beyond consolation, Hannah wonders if the deaths are her punishment for partaking in a forbidden love. Her heart heavy, laden with pain and guilt, she decides that she has been rejected by God and will leave her Amish community to marry Reece. She is now Anathema, an outcast to God and her people. It isn't long before Reece's true colors show through and the bullying begins. As she endures years of abuse at Reece's hands, Hannah desperately searches for the exquisite stolen quilts, a tangible link to her murdered parents. She knows exactly how to spot her mother's work, so bold and beautiful that the hummingbird designs nearly fly off the expertly sewn patchwork.
During a heated argument with Reece, Hannah suffers a tragic fall and awakens in the hospital, where Reece tells her that their unborn baby girl did not survive. Hannah is convinced the fall was no accident and leaves Reece to reinvent herself in the Englisch world, where her knowledge of quilts and Amish life leads her to success as an author. On the surface, all is well, but Hannah misses the love of her family and friends, and aches even more for the faith she left behind.
Although the book moves at a quick pace from the start, the real page-turning action begins when Hannah receives a letter from Reece containing a photo of a little girl. The child's almond eyes and unruly auburn hair, so like her own, leads Hannah to wonder if Reece's claim is true --- that the child is their daughter. She heads back to her homeland on a journey wrought with heartache, mystery, deceit and love in a plot that continues to twist and turn until the very end. A decade after she fled Park County, Hannah realizes she was never Anathema to the God who loves her unconditionally. I highly recommend a box of tissues for the last couple of chapters.
Colleen Coble's extensive research and Amish friendships come shining through the characters and imagery of this action-filled story. The devotion to God, peaceful lifestyle and tranquil farms beckon readers to indulge in the experience of visiting an Amish community. Descriptions of warm, damp greenhouses, simple furnishings and the sweet, creamy taste of coffee soup are woven through the pages of this novel like the patterns of a quilt. In addition to a spellbinding story, readers will come away from this book with interesting facts about Amish quilts and what their patterns mean to those who create them.
--- Reviewed by Susan Miura
WOW! June 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you think an Amish quilt is just for covering, think again! Colleen Coble's latest novel, Anathema, is so much more than "just another Amish tale." Something is amiss in the heart of Amish country and you won't rest until you find out what it is! An exciting read from start to finish, you won't want to miss this one!
Page-turning Suspense at Its Best June 3, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In Anathema, Colleen brings her fiction to Indiana for the first time, this time in the heart of Parke County and a close-knit Amish community. This book is richly layered with conflict. But it's not all external conflict related to finding the killer and staying alive.
Hannah is so conflicted about the Amish faith she abandoned and the problems that she created for herself when she left. She has a hard time separating those she controlled from the ones she didn't ask for...and is left paralyzed. She's also running scared from her abusive husband, but he's found the one tool that could drag her back to him. Matt hides a secret from Hannah that can only destroy the relationship they may have. But he doesn't see that he has a choice. He's also torn between duty and the past.
Add in a host of supporting characters, and the texture and twists of the plot form a tangled weave that pulled me through the pages and chapters. I have to admit, I did not fully guess the killer. I was close -- only the person I thought was the killer was the accomplice.
Anathema May 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved the book. It had all the page turning suspence that I have come to expect from Colleen Coble. It was a little different in that it dealt with the Amish people and their traditions, but I found them very interesting.
Great book about the Amish May 27, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Colleen Coble slices up a small, intriguing section of the Amish life for us, while throwing in a great mystery. The main characters are real, believable, and easy to identify with. I love her descriptions of Amish life, and I even learned a few things about their culture. Great book, great author--Highly recommended!
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