Anna's World

Fourteen-year-old Anna Coburn's life is uprooted when her father's small-town business is destroyed by a flood. While he gets back on his feet, he leaves her in the care of a Massachusetts Shaker community. The Shakers were a religious sect that thrived during the time of this story-the 1840s, when the United States was fighting a war of conquest in Mexico and becoming more and more divided over the issue of slavery.

Anna doesn't much like life among the Shakers-too many rules, too little fun. She is also put off by the society's strange religious ideas and rituals. She longs to join her father in the outside world. But when she does, she's dismayed by the curling irons, fancy hats, and restricted lifestyle expected of a young lady in Boston.

In both worlds, Anna's adventures put her very life in danger, and she must make choices as overwhelming as those faced by America itself.