The Mennonite Queen: The Paradise Chronicles

by Patrick E. Craig

Isabella, Princess of Poland, is raised to a life of great wealth and leisure in the Polish Royal Court, destined to marry a king. But fate or divine providence intervenes when she meets Johan Hirschberg, a young Anabaptist who works in her father's stable. This chance meeting leads the young couple into a forbidden love. Together they flee Poland and embark on a dangerous journey that brings them, after great peril, to the small parish of a troubled...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1732322406
• ISBN13: 9781732322400
• Release Date: April 2019
• Publisher: P&j Publishing
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Captivating Historical Novel

The Mennonite Queen by Patrick E. Craig is the third book in The Paradise Chronicles. Having read the second in the series I was looking forward to reading this one and was not disappointed. It definitely is not your usual Amish story. Yet it quickly drew me in especially as the story progresses and Princess Isabella follows her heart and begins to sense a call on her life that enables her to find her way to become the Mennonite Queen. Would she be able to do the unthinkable to save her family? Set in the 1500s, during a very turbulent time of religious wars and political alliances the story is filled with power-hungry men, would be kings, prophets, mercenaries, and sojourners. I enjoyed all the history regarding the Catholics, Lutherans, and Anabaptists and also the story of the former Catholic priest Menno Simons' journey into his faith and his role as an Anabaptist religious leader. Scenes are described with finesse and subtlety and the vivid characters are well-rounded and realistic--all their flaws, foibles, and faults are there along with their strengths and humanity. I loved the friendship Isabella has with Magda, an older woman who became her friend, her midwife, her mentor. The scenes were such that the reader could feel as though they were right there in the midst of the action, feeling the emotions of the characters as they experience the various dilemmas and happenings in their lives. As the Princess journeyed to Münster in hopes of peace, she found hell on earth. Would she find that peace comes not from a place but true peace comes from within...from God? The Mennonite Queen is a story about love and family and yet it is also about one's faith and the coming to the realization that if one cannot stand for one's faith, what good is that faith. I received a complimentary copy of the book and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.