Rebecca Herman
asked
Rachel Urquhart:
Since reading The Visionist, which I enjoyed a great deal, I have become very interested in the Shakers, whom I knew little about beforehand. Inmy research, I find them very fascinating and have my doubts that they were heavily involved in some of the shady things that are in the novel. I know you wrote a novel, and not a nonfiction book about this sect, but have you heard from people about this? Thanks! Rebecca
Rachel Urquhart
hi rebecca--first of all, thank you for reading my book. your question is a good one because, although i'm not sure i would characterize the shakers' behavior in my novel as "shady," it is certainly darker than most people would think realistic. that said, the book has been universally embraced by the community of hardcore shaker scholars in this country--something i'm very proud of. the shakers were human--which is easy to forget when we read about all the truly amazing things they did. they were also survivalists. they had to be, especially given their views on procreation etc.. so, for example, they had to be very commercially savvy and also quite sharp about buying up real estate or taking over the land and possessions of those who joined them. it wasn't greed that motivated them, but self-preservation. as for the way they looked at children, they saw them as investments in the future and, as such, needed to be sure that they could hold onto any child they took in at least until the child turned 18 so that the shakers got at least some return on all the money and time they put into clothing, education and teaching young shakers trades such as blacksmithing, carpentry, cooking etc.. finally, as far as the more outrageous-seeming worship rituals in the book go, they are all inspired very closely by what i read in the many books i studied while researching 'the visionst.' revivals in any religion are different from calmer periods of worship, and the one i wrote about--the era of manifestations--was a genuinely earthshaking decade for the shakers. thanks again for taking an interest. best, rachel
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Feb 07, 2016 01:00PM · flag