Review: The Seeker

The Seeker (The Shaker Book series - Book 3) by Ann H. Gabhart

(For review from Revell)

Synopsis:

When well-laid plans go awry, can she still make her dreams come true?

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 allow marriage—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 of unforeseen consequences.

Ann H. Gabhart brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers, and the ravages of war in 1860s Kentucky to weave a touching story of love, freedom, and forgiveness.

Thoughts:

As many of you know, I live in Kentucky and when I find a book that has Kentucky as it's setting, I'm very interested in it. This is Ann Gabhart's third book about The Shakers of Kentucky. It is set in the 1860's when the war had literally destroyed families as well as homes and businesses. The Shakers during that time were a voice of reason, the believed in simple living and quiet harmony and that appealed to many people during this time in Kentucky's history.

The problem with the Shakers came into existence with their own belief system. Because they did not believe in marriage they had to gather their followers from the general population. Eventually that meant that the Shakers died out, but their legacy lives on. Gabhart certainly did her research. She captures the daily like of the Shakers in great detail and lets the reader see what life in a Shaker community might have been like.

Charlotte Vance's character reminds me somewhat of my aunt. She was tenacious and she didn't give up. When circumstances didn't go her way, she found a new way. Charlotte was forced to change the plan of her life when the man she intended to marry joined the Shaker community at Harmony Hill. Her father married again and what was she to do? She joined the Shakers with the intent to get her man back, but what she found was totally unexpected. I liked her character a lot. She was able to make a way where there didn't seem to be one. She learned so much about what she believed. It was a journey of self discovery.

“Available July 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.”

I am giving this book 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

Here is some more information about the author, Ann Gabhart.

Ann H. Gabhart is the bestselling author of several novels, including The Outsider, The Believer, and The Seeker. Her latest novel was inspired in part by the many stories her mother and two aunts told her of growing up in small town Kentucky during the 1930s. She lives with her husband a mile from where she was born in Kentucky.