It is 1844 and Lacey Bishop's life is a tangled mess. Estranged from her own family, at age 16 she went to work for a preacher and his wife. When his wife died, the preacher convinced Lacey that the only decent thing to do was to marry him. That way she could continue to act as mother to the little girl who was left on his doorstop. But Lacey never expected he would decide to take them all off to a Shaker village.

In 1971, a property speculator named Harley Mann begins recording his life story onto a reel-to-reel machine. Reflecting on his childhood in the early twentieth century, Harley recounts that after his father's sudden death, his family migrated down to Florida's swamplands--mere miles away from what would become Disney World--to join a community of Shakers. Led by Elder John, a generous man with a mysterious past, the colony devoted itself to labor,...

"Will Rees is adjusting to life on his Maine farm in 1797, but he's already hungering for the freedom of the road, and his chance to travel comes sooner than he expects. Lydia has just received a letter from her old friend Mouse, a soft-spoken and gentle woman who now lives in the Shaker community in Mount Unity, New York. To Lydia and Rees's astonishment, she's in trouble with the law. She's kidnapped five children, claiming that their mother, Maggie...

"Will Rees is back home on his farm in 1796 Maine with his teenage son, his pregnant wife, their five adopted children, and endless farm work under the blistering summer sun. But for all that, Rees is happy to have returned to Dugard, Maine, the town where he was born and raised, and where he's always felt at home. Until now. When a man is found dead - murdered - after getting into a public dispute with Rees, Rees starts to realize someone is intentionally...

With the country--and her own household--on the brink of civil war, pampered gentlewoman Charlotte Vance 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.

"Darcie and Walter Goodwin join a Shaker village to escape a cholera epidemic, but when Walter dies, Darcie is left alone--and lonely. Can love live again for this widow in a community that doesn't believe in marriage?"-- 1849. Darcie and Walter Goodwin join a Shaker village to escape a cholera epidemic sweeping the area. It's meant to be a temporary stay, but Walter is killed in a riverboat accident. With no family and no money, Darcie has little...

In the spring of 1736 four men and one woman, all traveling under assumed names, are crossing the Devonshire countryside en route to a mysterious rendezvous. Before their journey ends, one of them will be hanged, one will vanish, and the others will face a murder trial. Out of the truths and lies that envelop these events, John Fowles has created a novel that is at once a tale of erotic obsession, an exploration of the conflict between reason and...

Rose Callahan, newly appointed eldress of the community of Believers at the Kentucky Shaker viliage of North Homage, confesses to a nagging resentment toward Andrew, sent by the lead ministry in Mount Lebanon to act as trustee. She knows little about the man, except that he's taken charge of the Medicinal Herb Garden, over which Rose previously had control, and he's been expanding the tiny industry and experimenting with new medicinal herbs. Now two...

An expectant young woman turned away by her family at Christmas is taken in by the Shakers at Harmony Hill.

After killing her abusive father in an intentionally-set fire, Polly Kimball and her younger brother seek refuge in a Shaker community in 1840s Massachusetts and unexpectedly become involved in a wave of mystical visions sweeping the Northeast religious communities.