Little Amish Girl
Viola Estrella
Independently Published (2025)
ISBN: 979-8218761400
Reviewed by Stephanie Elizabeth Long for Reader Views (12/2025)
Ivy Schrock’s childhood is tarnished by her rigid Amish upbringing and her father’s abuse, which left her hospitalized and fighting for her life. The heartbreaking, yet inspiring, story follows the young girl as she is forced into foster care after being shunned by her family and the Amish community.
Despite her tumultuous past, Ivy is a survivor who runs her own bakery and enjoys her quiet life in her small apartment surrounded by her favorite books. Still, people and memories from her past haunt Ivy, reopening old wounds. She cannot find peace or offer her heart to another until she finds closure. Burning questions invade her thoughts: Did her family miss her? Why hadn’t they come searching for Ivy? Ivy embarks on a journey to uncover the truth and make sense of her past.
Little Amish Girl by Viola Estrella spins a powerful narrative on a young woman’s hunger for freedom. Themes of religion, abuse, and resilience are woven throughout the pages, and the writing will prompt deep reflection within each reader. Winding in and out of the past and present, we get snapshots of Ivy’s young life; the isolation and abuse she endured, as well as the harrowing experiences in the foster system.
The things to love about this book are endless. Still, one of the most compelling aspects of Ivy’s story is Estrella’s ability to highlight the challenges of escaping an abusive situation, particularly where religion is used as a sort of moral compass. Leaving these dire circumstances is only a fraction of the battle that victims (especially children) of abuse must navigate. Despite being beaten within an inch of her young life, we see Ivy desperate to return to her family; it was so heartbreakingly evident that she’d been brainwashed into believing this was her fault. Moreover, the act of assimilating while in foster care came with its own challenges, and the author has done an excellent job of illustrating the reluctance to embrace this new world after growing accustomed to isolation and abuse.
If you seek emotionally driven books in which the main character undergoes a profound transformation, Viola Estrella’s Little Amish Girl resonates deeply. Ivy’s story will simultaneously shatter your heart and put it back together with her adversity, bravery, and resilience. Moreover, the relationships between characters, both old and new, are deeply intriguing and multilayered. This is one of those novels that will remain with you long after the last page.