While this story has a lot of deep faith aspects woven into it and it is a sweet, straightforward romance that gives you a glimpse into the history of the Anabaptist. There is a lot of inspiration and truth within it's pages. The story itself just did not click with me, not that I didn't enjoy the story.

Jerome Segeps (Segers) and Lijsken Dircks have been described as the Romeo and Juliet of Anabaptist religious history. They lived in prosperous Antwerp, in the 1550’s- a time of vibrant trading and commerce and also a time of social change.

The Anabaptist belief developed to counter what some felt were problems and excesses in the Catholic church. The sect believed in the separation of Church and State and in adult baptism. Amish, Hutterite, Mennonite and Church of the Brethren are modern descendants.

Jerome and “Lizzie” as she is nicknamed in Author Bauman’s thoughtful “Christian love story” were real people. Jerome was a copper craftsman and Lizzie was a high-born, aristocratic young woman. The author has created what their day-today life may have been like, but many of their actual letters to each other are quoted or presented in full.

As the author presents it, Lizzie is invited to a secret meeting of the Anabaptists by a friend. She is scared and leery, because the punishment for being an Anabaptist is torture and death. The meeting lights a spark within her and when she meets the handsome and other-worldly Jerome, she is inspired to learn more about this new faith. She expresses a desire to read the Bible which is forbidden, and he secretly gets one to her- a Bible hidden by the cover of “Romeo and Juliet”.

Their love grows and they are married in an Anabaptist ceremony and Lizzie is baptized. All too soon, they are arrested and imprisoned. In their letters to each other from prison, they share their love for one another, their love for God and their faith in the promise of everlasting life. They await their deaths with joy.

Author Bauman has presented a well-written, loving and humanizing portrait of these two martyrs. While today’s readers may have trouble relating to their story, I found it both shocking and inspiring. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for a review copy. This is my honest review

Lizzie is an enterprising, hard-working, innocent, likable protagonist. Jerome is dreamy and too good to be true.
They meet at the fair in Antwerp, a colorful city of bustling commerce and the Inquisition. Jerome and Lizzie quickly fall in love but he can marry her only if she converts from Catholicism to his clandestine Anabaptist sect.

The Anabaptist movement was an obscure (dare I say weird?) offshoot of the Protestant reformation. Their anti-Catholic views are clearly spelled out in this novella. As a convert to Catholicism myself, I had to shake my head often at the cliches and mistaken beliefs about the Church.

I have never understood people choosing to die rather than renounce their specific religious doctrines. In Lizzie's Antwerp, to be anything but Catholic is grounds for arrest, torture, and imprisonment. She is offered a simple solution: give up the Anaptist beliefs, or die.

The novella lapses into page after page of religious speeches. Jerome channels Paul of the Epistles in his letters from prison. His faith in a reward in heaven may be commendable to some readers, but I find it irresponsible to risk the life of his wife and unborn child to hold true to dogmas that I tried to embrace all my life (indoctrinated Fundamentalist since infancy). I've fought against skepticism, but reading books like this just reinforce my skepticism. Valiantly die for the Jesus of the Bible? I'd tell the Inquisitors what they wanted to hear, then try to depose the tyrants, or run far, far away to a better world. Books, Bibles, beliefs spelled out by others, just are not worth dying for. Freedom, Life, Liberty--that, I'd die for.

This is just my opinion, so I won't two-star the novel for my opposing beliefs. I really like the author bio. I like historical fiction--but hate knowing these horrible things happened in real life.

In the end, I was so weary of the pages and pages of Gospel promises, I had no respect for the martyrdom of Jerome and Lizzie. Idealists. Meh.

What an incredible book - it tells the story of Lizzie and Jerome, a young couple who met in the city of Antwerp, Belgium in the 1500’s after Lizzie attended an Anabaptist meeting. Lizzie was a rich heiress, who worked for the Sewing Guild, and Jerome was a coppersmith.
Lizzie was unsure about believing in Jesus and leaving the Catholic church, but as she read the Bible she was convinced to believe in Jesus alone for her faith.
Lizzie and Jerome got married (illegally according to the Catholic church), and they attended illegal meetings until they were arrested one night. Lizzie had just found out that she was pregnant too!
The Catholic priests tried to change her faith, but she refused, even though she was afraid. Jerome and Lizzie wrote letters of encouragement and comfort to each other - their letters will strengthen your faith too!

SISTER, FIGHT VALIANTLY by LOUISA M BAUMAN takes place in Antwerp in 1551 where the Emperor Charles V had let loose his inquisitors to try and stamp out the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists had to meet in secret and we see, through what Lizzie and Jerome went through, their incredible faith and devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. In dire contrast to this we see the wickedness of the priests and magistrates who used their man made religion to persecute Christians.
It is an interesting book, very sad, but there is also victory as the believers stand in faith and overcome the enemy "by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony." A great deal of the book consists of the letters that passed between Lizzie and Jerome which bring to mind the letters that the apostle Paul wrote in prison.
I was given a free copy of the book by NetGalley from BooksGoSocial. The opinions in this review are completely my own.