Somewhere to Belong is about two girls who become fast friends. Berta Schumacher has been moved to Main Amana, a cooperative living, simple lifestyle community by her parents. She had lived a life of luxury in Chicago and it is a complete shock to have to live in a village with extreme structure. Johanna Ilg has been raised her entire life in Main Amana. The rules and the structure is all that she has known. Until she discovers a secret about her life, that makes her question who she really is and if Amana is where she really belongs.
This was a very interesting book. The author did a great job of developing the characters and really getting you into the book. I really enjoyed the story line but really did not like the setting (Main Amana). It is supposed to be a cooperative living, utopian, type village. It makes you think it is Amish, but there are some differences from the Amish communities. A family is assigned a living space/apartment, with several families living in one house. Every person is assigned a duty that requires them to work 7 days a week. All of this is decided by the "Bruderrat" community elders. There is a communal eating house where men sit separately from the women. It is said that it is better to be single than married, even though people can marry. It is such a controlled environment, it almost seems cultish.
Outside of the whole utopian community, I really enjoyed the stories of Berti and Johanna. This was my first book to read by Judith Miller. Somewhere to Belong is in a series called Daughters of Amana. I will probably not read any of these books.
This book was sent to me by Bethany House Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review.
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