I wanted to thank Baker/Revell for providing me a review copy of this enjoyable book!
From Amazon.com
Charlotte Vance is a young woman who knows what she wants. But when the man she planned to marry joins the Shakers–a religious group that does not marry–she is left dumbfounded. And when her father brings home a new wife who is young enough to be Charlotte’s sister, it is more than she can bear. With the country–and her own household–on the brink of civil war, this pampered gentlewoman hatches a plan to avoid her new stepmother and win back her man by joining the Shaker community at Harmony Hill. Little does she know that this decision will lead her down a road toward unforeseen peace–and a very unexpected love. Ann H. Gabhart brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers, and the ravages of war to weave a touching story of love, freedom, and forgiveness that sticks with readers long after they have turned the last page.
I enjoyed this book, especially since the story took me inside the walls of the Shaker community and I learned a lot about the life of this religious sect. Charlotte is used to doing things in a planned, orderly way. When her fiancé breaks off their engagement to join the Shaker community at Harmony Hill, Charlotte is stunned by his decision. Although there are no romantic sparks between the couple, it is hoped that they can marry and join their families’ wealth together – more like a business arrangement. Charlotte is floored when Adam, an illustrator for a prominent magazine, is hired to paint the portrait of her new, extremely young, stepmother. When Adam kisses her, she finds herself aroused from the unexpected kiss and she can’t get her mind off of the attractive gentleman (Adam) now staying in her home.
Charlotte finds herself practically banned from her house once her new stepmom takes residence and she vows to forget about handsome Adam and win back her fiancé by joining the Shaker community that’s located up the road from her house.
While you’re reading this novel, you learn a great deal about the Shakers. There are several things about this sect that I found disturbing, but this does not reflect on my review of the story! The book is a good read and I recommend it. I just felt a bit unsettled with The Shakers because their beliefs don’t match up with what I consider true Christianity. They believe that matrimony and reproduction are sins and they also don’t encourage familial relationships. In their commmunity, once you join, you pretty much break ties with your entire family unless your family decides to become Shakers. Even if your family joins the community, you wouldn’t be able to communicate privately with family members since they live in a communal place and the sexes are separated at all times. The Shakers believed that their founder, whom they call Mother Ann, was the second coming of Christ in female form. I’d recommend this book to anybody who wants to get a good feel for the Shaker way of life. From what I can tell, most of the Shakers are gone and the sect pretty much disbanded not long after the Civil War.
This book also delves into the state of the country during the Civil War and you get a taste of what the troops suffered through when Adam goes amongst the soldiers, drawing emotional pictures for his magazine editor. He also tries to convince his younger brother to leave the Army since Adam fears for the youngster’s life.
This was a good book and I encourage all to read it. I read it quickly and found it hard to put down since I was so caught up in the story and the characters lives. This is the third Shaker book by this author and I reviewed the second book in the series, The Believer, here. The first book, The Outsider, is available as a free Kindle download and I plan on reviewing that novel at a later date.
To top off this review, I asked the author how she happened to choose the Shakers as subject matter for her books:
Why did you decide to use the Shaker community in your books and have you always been fascinated by their lives?
Here’s Ann’s response:
I actually started out writing historical romance for the general market and had a couple of books published by Warner Books in 1978 and 1980. I then wrote my first book about the Shakers because I thought it was an interesting historical subject and one I could drop my characters down into and tell a good story. Unfortunately my editors at the time didn’t think my story suited the market and other publishers turned it down too as too quiet and too religious for the general market in that era of historical romance. So eventually the story ended up on a shelf in my closet. Then years down the road I wrote my first inspirational novel, The Scent of Lilacs. That story, set in the 1960s, has nothing to do with Shakers. It’s a family drama with interaction between a whole town full of characters. But my editor, just in general conversation, mentioned that she was an admirer of the Shakers since she knew there was a Shaker village near where I live that has been restored as a living history museum. Pleasant Hill Shaker Village in Mercer County, Kentucky is a beautiful place that exudes peace and history to the visitor and that’s the village I transform into my Shaker village, Harmony Hill. But back to my Shaker beginnings. So when she said that about the Shakers, I offhandedly remarked that I had written a book about the Shakers once. When she said she’d like to read the book, one thing led to another and after some rewriting that story became The Outsider. At that point I had no intention of writing more Shaker novels, but pre-sales were good and the publishers asked if I would consider writing two more novels set in my fictional Shaker village. I agreed and delved into researching the Shakers and their ways once more and wrote The Believer and The Seeker. I didn’t plan to write more than three, but then I had this character that I thought would be perfect for another Shaker story. My book about her, The Blessed will be out next summer. And I’m contracted for a couple more. But Revell will also be publishing some of my other historical fiction too. Angel Sister, set during the 1930’s, will be out in February 2011 and is another family drama without any Shakers among the characters.
I don’t know if I can say I’ve always been fascinated by the Shakers and their communities, but their history is very interesting and I think, unique. They were extremely disciplined in all they did other than their worship. In worship they opened themselves up to the spirit and were open to many ways to express their faith. They would shake, whirl, dance, hop, skip, sing, do most any expression of worship. And so my research into their beliefs and the amazing things they accomplished with dedicated lives did open up their world to me even though I would have always been one of the “world” that they tried to block out of their villages and lives.
Actually they did believe Jesus came from God the same as they believed Mother Ann was the daughter of God but they certainly didn’t look at things the way most Protestants of the era did. They were often at odds with the people in the community because of their beliefs and the way they worshiped. In fact if a man or woman joined the Shakers, his or her spouse could get a divorce granted with no further proof of any wrong.