The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim

My face burns with the heat of a hundred stares. No one is looking at Amos King's handmade casket as they are all too busy looking at me. Even Tobias cannot hide his disgust when he reaches out a hand, and then realizes he has not extended it towards his angelic wife, who was too weak to come, but to her fallen twin. Drawing the proffered hand back, Tobias buffs the knuckles against his jacket as if to clean them and slips his hand beneath the Bible. All the while his black eyes remain fixed on me until Eli emits a whimper that awakens the new bishop to consciousness.

Title: The Outcast
Author: Jolina Petersheim
ISBN: 9781414379340
Publisher: Tyndale House/2013
Pages: 400

Old Order Mennonite community

The novel is narrated in two voices, one by the protagonist, Rachel Stoltzfus, and the other is Amos King, who is being buried right in the first chapter. The four main characters in the novel are Rachel and her identical twin, Leah,  Tobias and his brother, Jacob. Leah is married to Tobias. Jacob has always been in love with Rachel.

Now that would have been so ideal, two brothers marrying two sisters. However, we find Rachel is an unwed mother of a few months old son, Eli. She has refused to divulge the name of the father of her child. For that she is shunned by her own family except for her twin sister, Leah. Rachel does not care much about what everyone thinks but cares deeply for her child and her sister. She is thrown out of the house by Tobias and a large hearted woman, Ida Mae takes her in. And then Rachel finds out that her son has Leukemia. She thinks her son is being punished for her sins.

The novel explores well the complexities of life. That is, lust, sin, betrayal, single parenting, family loyalties, conflict between religion and medicine, repentance and forgiveness. 

The Outcast is modern version of  The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne