Book Review by Elise Cooper
Softly Blows the Bugle by Jan Drexler is the third in the Weaver’s Creek series. It delves into family bonds and faith, where forgiveness, love, loss, and resilience play a role.
The plot starts off with Jonas Weaver returning home after being a medic during the Civil War. Coming home with him is Aaron Zook, a Confederate soldier who lost his leg in the battle of Vicksburg. Jonas’ sister, Elizabeth Kaufman, is trying to get beyond her past where she had an abusive husband. Luckily for her, he died in the war and made her a widow. Now Elizabeth must come to grips with two strangers who have come to live among the Amish community, Aaron, and Solomon Mast who wants to marry her.
“I wanted to show that Jonas did not fight in the Civil War because the Amish are pacifists. He became a medic, which is where he met Aaron. Being in the war changed both Jonas and Aaron.”
Both Aaron and Elizabeth are broken characters. She was broken by the abuse and he after being wounded in the war. In a sense both feel lost and hopeless, but together give each other confidence.
“I wrote these characters as moving forward. Aaron is caring, protective, brave, gentle, and kind. Because he lost his leg, he thinks he must prove himself and is very lonely having lost his home and family to the war. Elizabeth takes a journey to find her own emotional strength and overcome her vulnerability, while Aaron takes a journey to overcome his handicap. Together they built a cautious friendship that was based on respect and common interests.”
This historical novel shows how a caring community can help those with wounds, both emotionally and physically, and allow them to overcome their past.
Drexler also is moving on. She is deciding if she will continue with more Amish stories, write a cozy mystery, or write a historical novel set in the 1880s in South Dakota that is not an Amish story.
