The Outsider

by Ann H. Gabhart

She thought she was content-until a love from the outside world turned hers upside down.

Gabrielle Hope and her mother joined the Harmony Hill Shaker community in 1807. The community promised stability and devotion that Gabrielle wholeheartedly embraced. But when a local doctor must be brought into Harmony Hill from the outside, he sets into motion a chain of events that will challenge Gabrielle's loyalty to the shakers
As she falls deeper into a forbidden love for this man of the world, Gabrielle must make a choice. Can she experience true happiness in this simple and chaste community? Or will she abandon her brothers and sisters for a life of the unknown?

Soulful and filled with romance, The Outsider lets you live within a bygone time among a unique and peculiar people. This tender and though-provoking story will stay with you long after you finish the final chapter. (c) Ann H. Gabhart, The Outsider, 2008, back cover

I was disappointed with this novel by Ann H. Gabhart. I have read several of her other novels which I very much enjoyed. I found this novel to be quite dark and upsetting. If she was trying to capture the negative atmosphere of this particular sect of believers, she certainly did. I found it to be too dark and uncomfortable to read. It was very depressing. There was nothing tender or romantic about this novel in my humble opinion.

Perhaps you will feel differently and if you do, e-mail me and I may include your review on the site.