SIMPLE GIFTS: The Story of
the Shakers
Illustrated by Betty Fraser
Viking 1976
ISBN# 0-670-64584-2 Viking hardcover
Editor Linda Zuckerman was on a trip through New
England and came across several Shaker sites. On the way home,
she stopped for tea and asked me if I'd be interested in doing
a non-fiction book on the Shakers. As I'd always been fascinated
by them, I readily agreed, and after a year's worth of research,
produced this book. Eventually I would write The Gift of Sarah
Barker, a young adult novel, and the research was a good start
for what I needed to do for that book. Smart readers will note
that the round barn I found when researching this book and used
in Gift, also found its way into my novel Dragon's Blood. I call
that a Writer's Recycling Project.