I am just loving this series. I would have never thought I would love reading a book about the Shakers, but it turns out, I surely do. Ann has this gift of drawing you in and placing you right there among the characters. The story takes us on a journey very real to many. Through the characters Ann has created, we learn great life lessons.
Harmony Hill is becoming one of my favorite places to visit and I am sure it will be for you too. Here in this novel we see how our devotion to God is first and foremost in our walk with Christ. I recently read that rules are not everything. The most important thing in life is relationships. I think that can be applied to this novel. It's our relationship with the Lord and Him alone that sets the stage for our life and all that it holds. That is something missing from the Shakers. They don't have that relationship and they set rule after rule to follow.
Jessamine Brady is a character we can all relate to. She feels pulled from all sides and she is trying to find peace among the chaos of those daily struggles we face as the world is at our doorstep calling. But in Jessamine's case, it's a world that she doesn't know and is very curious. She feels a tug at her heart. I see her as almost a beautiful butterfly wanting to be set free, but she is being held in a glass jar unable to fly. This is one of those novels you will pick up and not only lose yourself in the story, but find yourself wanting a deeper faith before you close the last page.
This book was a gift from Revell for it's review.
Ann H. Gabhart started writing when she was ten and has been writing ever since. Her first published writings were personal experience pieces, youth stories, and poems in church periodicals such as HomeLife. Her first novel, a historical romance about the settling of Kentucky, was published by Warner Books in 1978. Since then, she's published numerous books for both adults and young adults. The Scent of Lilacs, her first inspirational novel, was chosen as one of the Top Ten Books in Christian Fiction in 2006 by Booklist magazine. Her first Shaker book, The Outsider, was a finalist for Christian Fiction Book of the Year in 2009 and was a Top Pick by Romantic Times Book Review Magazine. Ann lives on a farm in Kentucky not far from where she was born. She and her husband, Darrell, a bass singer in the Patriot Quartet, have three children and nine grandchildren. Her website is www.annhgabhart.com.
