When Darcie and Walter Goodwin hear of a new cholera epidemic sweeping the area, they join the Shakers whose villages seem immune to the disease. 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 choice but to stay with the Shakers. To complicate matters, she is expecting a baby conceived before she and her husband came … came to the Shaker village. Marital relationships are considered sinful in this celibate community, putting Darcie in a unique–and lonely–position. Can the arrival of widower Flynn Keller and his headstrong daughter offer Darcie the hope of happiness . . . and family?
Ann H. Gabhart returns to the enigmatic world of the Shakers in this emotional exploration of the power of love and the bond of family.
more
THE REFUGE. Ann Gabhart.
They were in the Shaker community because of the cholera. My husband was a strong swimmer, died saving others. The coffin, no I will remember that I was loved by my husband. We were to leave this place, and find our own, to work with our hands. A baby he didn’t know about
The eyes were always watching in the village, an assigned position, the rules to abided by. The same rules her husband chaffed against. Marriage was a sin, and coming in, they were separated. So it will be when a child is born, Darcie will be giving it up.
Flynn a widower unable to care for his daughter sends her here, on a temporary basis.Meeting Darcie could that be an answer, and a better life
for her and child. How can a courtship be, no communication or is one taken in trust. I have the other books in this series and enjoyed them.
This was hard one to read, I am sure the author did her research and that was the way it was done, As far as the story, it was well portrayed with the deep sorrow, of losing both a husband and the coming child.
Given ARC by Net .Galley and Revell for my honest opinion and voluntary review.
The setting of this book is the 1850’s and at the Shakers Village of Harmony Hill. I like reading about this group of believers, although they were destined to fail, they had to depend on new joiners.
While some of this book does focus on the loss of a spouse, we have hope with the arrival of new babies, but the setting for nurturing is less than ideal. A rather sterile way, where the adults live in separate buildings from the children, and of course, men and woman are living apart.
Through the words of the author we put faces to these people, and while I felt I knew how things would turn out, there are a few surprises that we find here.
I for one would be happy to journey for a longer time here, and this one kept my attention and the pages flew.
I received this book through the Publisher Revell, and was not required to give a positive review.