This past weekend was Homecoming at University of the Cumberlands, and I had the opportunity to meet Jolina Peterson, a UC graduate and author of The Outcast. Although I am not myself a fan of the Amish style fiction that seems to pervade the women’s fiction section in today’s Christian bookstores, I read The Outcast in order to review it for The Patriot Newspaper, and found myself surprised and delighted!
The Outcast is not a typical Amish novel. In it there is no budding romantic courtship, no countryside horse and buggy day trips, no women chattering along as they bake or keep house. There are no goody-two-shoes characters, only characters who pretend to be so. Inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and a story her parents told of an affair between a man and his wife’s sister who lived within an Old Order Mennonite community, Jolina set her story in a contemporary Mennonite society in the mountains of Tennessee. Although it is obvious that these two stories started the book off, there are Biblical themes throughout it that only came with Jolina’s own touch. The two sisters’ names are Rachel and Leah, a biblical reference that fits beautifully into the story and even makes it more believable. There are other name games going on as well, comparing characters to biblical pairs of the same kind, but I don’t want to give everything away – read the book!
When I was able to meet Jolina and interview her for The Patriot, one thing about her became very evident: she is a woman who loves what she is doing, loves the people who support her in it, and feels that God has a purpose for the opportunities she has been given. The Outcast was published this year by Tyndale Publishers – one of the biggest names in Christian publishing today, despite the fact that Jolina has never published a book before and has only one degree – in English from the same university from which I will receive my English degree in January. And the book is good!
Jolina’s success itself has been a huge encouragement to me. A lot of people aspire to become published authors, but few of them really feel that they have what it takes to get there. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I’ve ever really thought that I have what it takes myself. But if someone else can be as successful as Jolina with the same degree that I am going to get myself, maybe there is hope for me, too! Not saying that I could make it as big as she has, but that maybe, just maybe, I can see my name on a cover someday, too.
Thanks for your encouragement Jolina, and for reminding me that the things we hope and aspire for in life really can be done!