Levi's Will by W. Dale Cramer

Some sins follow you your whole life. Mr. Cramer’s book, "Levi’s Will", is the story of an Amish teenager who makes a mistake and spends the rest of his life wondering if it is possible to atone for some sins.

Young Will runs away at 19, escaping the control of his father Levi, who even by Amish standards exceptionally strict with his children. Leaving behind a pregnant fiancée, Will rides the rails before joining the Army during WWII, always depending on the work ethic he learned at home to help him cope with life, never learning how to trust, and how to give what he was never given growing up.

From his Amish roots, through service in the military during WWII, marriage, work and life we follow the story of Will Mullet/McGruder as he seeks to work his way to atonement. He lives a life of secrets even from those nearest and dearest to him and in the end becomes a proverb of how the sins of the father do linger on, hurting their own sons.

This is a story about the importance of family, of independence, of hard work and most of all love and forgiveness. Mr Cramer examines the relationships of fathers and sons bridging three generations.

If you like stories set in the Amish culture you will enjoy this one. Told from the masculine point of view it reveals the struggles Will faces seeking to reconcile the best of his Amish upbringing with the modern culture in which he has chosen to stay.