The Blessed

By Ann H. Gabhart

Description:

It is 1844 and Lacey Bishop's life is a tangled mess. Estranged from her own family, at age 16 she started working for a preacher and his wife. All is fine until the wife dies a few years later and the preacher convinces Lacey the only decent thing to do is marry him. That way she can continue to act as mother to the little girl who was left on his doorstep. But Lacey never expected he would decide to take them all off to a Shaker village. There she's still married but living in a community that believes marriage is a sin. And to make matters worse, she finds herself drawn to Isaac Kingston, a man who came to the Shakers after his young bride died. But of course any notion of love between them is only a forbidden dream. How will Lacey ever find true happiness?

Book Takeaway:

I hope readers will fall in love with Lacey and understand her dilemma and how she tries to do the best she can as she makes commitments she has to keep and finds a way to forgive the unforgivable.

Why the author wrote this book:

I really didn't think I'd write another Shaker book, but then I came up with this great character named Lacey. I planned to use her as a side character in my book, The Seeker, but she seemed too good a character for that. So I decided to write a story about Lacey Bishop. And she did prove to be a good character with a story that needed to be told.