From one of Americaโs most beloved storytellers: a dazzling tapestry of love and faith, memory and imagination that questions what it means to look back and accept oneโs place in history. In 1971, Harley Mann revisits his childhood, recounting his family's move to Floridaโs swamplandsโmere miles away from what would become Disney Worldโto join a community of Shakers.
โEerily timely. Can whatโs gone wrong in the past offer keys to the future? The Magic Kingdom confronts our longings for Paradise; also the inner serpents that are to be found in all such enchanted gardens.โ โMargaret Atwood, author of The Testaments, via Twitter
Property speculator Harley Mann begins recording his life story onto a reel-to-reel machine, reflecting on his youth in the early twentieth century. He recounts that after his fatherโs sudden death, his family migrated down to Florida to join a Shaker colony. Led by Elder John, a generous man with a mysterious past, the colony devoted itself to labor, faith, and charity, rejecting all temptations that lay beyond the property. Though this way of life initially saved Harley and his family from complete ruin, when Harley began falling in love with Sadie Pratt, a consumptive patient living on the grounds, his loyalty to the Shakers and their conservative worldview grew strained and, ultimately, broke.
As Harley dictates his story across more than half a centuryโmeditating on youth, Floridaโs everchanging landscape, and the search for an American utopiaโthe truth about Sadie, Elder John, and the Shakers comes to light, clarifying the past and present alike. With an expert eye and stunning vision, Russell Banks delivers a wholly captivating portrait of a man navigating Americana and the passage of time.