It all seemed so simple in the moment. Simon Yoder is an evil man who steals the souls of young girls. Get rid of Simon Yoder, and all will be right with the world. Except it only works that way in fairy tales, and Mennonites don’t put much stock in fairy tales.
Henry Schmidt throws his daughter Suzanne out of the house because of her bad funeral behavior. She eventually lands in the home of Cat Peters, her best friend and would be savior, just in time for the long arm of the law to snatch her away.
And now Cat must save Suzanne from a life in prison—or worse.
From the award winning Never Enough series. Don’t miss the first book in the series, Never Enough Flamingos.
Why this story? Why now?
In the last pages of Never Enough Flamingos, Cat says, “I wish I could tell you we all lived happily ever after. That’s the way it’s supposed to work in the books we read, but it’s not true. Every seed grows into something. Fair or not, the seeds planted here were never designed to flower and give a sweet fragrance.”
As a pacifist, I really struggled in Never Enough Flamingos with what to do with Simon Yoder. I believe firmly that life is sacred and that it’s wrong to take a life. It would have been more Mennonite to have him arrested, convicted of rape, and imprisoned for life. None of that was a realistic outcome for the 1930s, though. Was it realistic for Suzanne to push Simon to his death? Where does desperation take any of us that we don’t believe we would ever go?
I wrote all of this before the #metoo and #churchtoo movements began. What I love is that just like these movements, Never Enough Sisters beautifully illustrates the power of voices. If we as sisters band together–speak, support, and hold accountable–those who steal souls, we can in fact change the world.
