Rachel Urquhart

An enthralling first novel about a teenage girl who finds refuge--but perhaps not--in an 1840s Shaker community. After 15-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father, she and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called the City of Hope. It is the Era of Manifestations, when young girls in Shaker enclaves all across the Northeast are experiencing extraordinary mystical visions, earning them the honorific of "Visionist" and bringing renown to their settlements. The City of Hope has not yet been blessed with a Visionist, but that changes when Polly arrives and is unexpectedly exalted. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything--even her faith--on Polly's honesty and purity.

A Novel

The Visionist

Jeff Stone

Kim Johnson Gross

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Skin Care and Makeup

Woman's Face

This work offers advice on how to achieve the perfectly co-ordinated wardrobe. With hints and advice from designers and fashion experts, and containing a directory of shops and sources, it is one of the large format titles in the Chic Simple series of guides to living in the 90s.

Women's Wardrobe

'It was years before a Visionist came to the City of Hope. How could I have fathomed that her presence in our small, remote sanctuary - as unforeseen to her as to anyone - would change everything?' Massachusetts, 1842. Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to her family farm, killing her abusive father. With his fiery ghost at her heels, Polly and her young brother seek refuge in a local Shaker community - the City of Hope. Polly has much to hide from this mysterious society of believers, with the local fire inspector on her trail and the ever-present daemons from her past. But when they hail her a 'Visionist', the first their community has known, she is subject to overwhelming scrutiny. Despite being fiercely protected by a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who has never known the outside world yet will stake her very soul on Polly's purity, Polly finds herself in danger from forces both sides of the City's walls. And in a world where faith and fear coexist, safety has a price… Rachel Urquhart conjures a cast of extraordinary characters and brings to life one of history's most fabled and mysterious religious movements.

'Fascinating. An unexpected coming of age story, a suspenseful mystery, a thoughtful examination of the nature of good and evil' Eowyn Ivey,The Snow Child 'It was years before a Visionist came to the City of Hope. How could I have fathomed that her presence in our small, remote sanctuary - as unforeseen to her as to anyone - would change everything?' Massachusetts, 1842. Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to her family farm, killing her abusive father. With his fiery ghost at her heels, Polly and her young brother seek refuge in a local Shaker community - the City of Hope. Polly has much to hide from this mysterious society of believers, with the local fire inspector on her trail and the ever-present daemons from her past. But when they hail her a 'Visionist', the first their community has known, she is subject to overwhelming scrutiny. Despite being fiercely protected by a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who has never known the outside world yet will stake her very soul on Polly's purity, Polly finds herself in danger from forces both sides of the City's walls. And in a world where faith and fear coexist, safety has a price… Rachel Urquhart conjures a cast of extraordinary characters and brings to life one of history's most fabled and mysterious religious movements. 'A fresh batch of debut fiction introduces heroines and an anti-heroine with impressive abilities and memorable flaws. None is as powerful as Polly Kimball, a 19th-century New Englander ... Part mystery, part coming-of-age tale, The Visionistprobes questions of faith and fear while deftly illuminating Shakerism' --Observer 'Rachel Urquhart writes with precision and beauty' --Sunday Times 'Utterly brilliant' --Lucy Mangan 'Fascinating ... An unexpected coming of age story, a suspenseful mystery' --Eowyn Ivey, author of the bestseller The Snow Child 'Transfixing ... Urquhart has created a world rich in detail and vibrant in its historical dimensions ... Like Marilynne Robinson's Gilead... The Visionistaspires to illuminate our understanding of faith, resilience, shame and forgiveness' --New York Times Book Review 'A daring novel of secrets, revelations and redemption ... engrossing ... compelling' --O Magazine 'A literary achievement one might expect from a writer with an extensive backlist of published works' --New York Journal of Books 'Shatteringly original ... so rich, so detailed, that you not only come to care for all the characters deeply, you also become so immersed in the world of the Shakers ... Part mystery and part thriller ... wise and haunting ... provocative, passionate and profoundly redemptive' --San Francisco Chronicle 'Like Nathaniel Hawthorne's haunted novels, The Visionisttests a community's faith and devotion as expertly mounted, suspenseful threats grow ... The Visionistwill have you holding your breath until the final, magnificent revelation' --ShelfAwareness 'There are characters with crosses to bear and scruffy villains straight out of Dickens. The Visionistreads in parts like a Victorian thriller ... In a painstakingly researched novel framed by a suspenseful plot, Urquhart gives the reader an intriguing glimpse behind these doors' --Wall Street Journal

Rachel Urquhart

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