Kindly Welcome by Linda Stevens

Little wonder that Amos Anger, a small boy abandoned by his parents years before, was endlessly curious about the turmoil that suddenly surrounded him and the people he loved most. America teetered on the brink of self-destruction, the year was 1861, and his home was Shakertown at South Union, Kentucky. Almost completely misunderstood since their 18th-century beginnings, the Shakers -- the so-called Shaking Quakers -- were amongst young Americas original visionaries. Pacifist, devoted to equality between men and women, and prolific inventors, these quiet people lived lives virtually unknown to their countrymen and women, then as now. Extraordinary and little-known diaries kept by Kentucky Shakers during the Civil War now form the background for a novel of peaceful Christian folk attempting to live the lives of Angels on Earth, with the War Between the States camped daily on their doorstep. Rich in detail, history and timeless wisdom, the tales of Amos Anger and those who raised him ring true in todays America, and bear re-reading again and again.