The Blessed
July 12th, 2011. Filed under: Tuesday's Tempting Reads.Bestselling Author Ann Gabhart Writes A Novel of Forbidden Love
In the Shaker Village of Harmony Hill
“Let the child go, Lacey. Right now! We’ve come into this community to leave things of the world behind and do as they say” said Preacher Palmer. “But she needs me.” She spoke barely above a whisper. “She needs discipline. And so do you…” he said.
There is an intrigue and enigma with the Shakers and their way of life. Award-winning author Ann Gabhart weaves a heartrending novel of the Shakers in her latest Shaker novel, The Blessed (ISBN: 978-08007-3454-1, $14.99, 416 pages, July 2011). It is a time of spiritual revival in the mid-1840’s when the Shakers worship services received many spiritual messages from Mother Ann and other Shaker leaders. Harmony Hill was a place offering a different way of life from the world. This village was a place where the people were dedicated to community, hard work, practicing their worship, and engaging in long hours of worship each week.
It is 1844. In her twenty years, Lacey Bishop has endured hard times including the death of her mother and her father’s remarriage to a woman with no love for his children. When she was thirteen, Lacey went to live with the preacher and his wife. Upon the sudden death of the preacher’s wife, difficult times return for Lacey. The preacher convinces Lacey to marry him so she can continue to act as a mother to the little girl who was left on the preacher’s doorstop. But Lacey never expected he would decide to take all of them to a Shaker village. At the village her marriage is still legal to the outside world but living in a Shaker community, they believed marriage is a sin. Lacey finds herself drawn to Isaac Kingston, a man who came to the Shakers after his young bride died. Confused and her heart torn between right and wrong, Lacey must choose what to do. Discover how the Shakers lived in The Blessed and if truth, love and forgiveness become reality for Lacey.
ISLAND BREEZES
Instead of a pros and cons list of her life, Lacey Bishop could make a list of blessed/not blessed. It seems as if her life just sort of flip flopped between the two.
Then Lacey ended up in a Shaker village. Was it a blessing or not?
She has a roof over her head, but her husband and child are no longer hers. She isn’t really happy, but if she leaves she will no longer even be able to catch a glimpse of her Rachel.
Besides, she’s being drawn towards a Shaker man with no hope of ever being with the man she loves. With no hope of ever being part of a family again.
Will Lacey end up checking off the blessed or the not blessed column by the end of this book?
***Special thanks to Donna Hausler for a review copy of this book. ***
Ann Gabhart is the award-winning, bestselling author of several books about the Shakers, including The Believer, The Outsider and The Seeker. Living just thirty miles from a restored Shaker village and one mile from the place she was born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, she has walked the same paths that her characters might have walked in generations past. For more information about Ann visit her website at www.annhgabhart.com
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life.? They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.
Available July 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group