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Susannah
After her mother's death, fourteen-year-old Susannah is taken by her father to live in a Shaker community in Ohio, but she does not find the same sense of peace there that he does.
186 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 12, 2021
Five things about Susannah by Janet Hickman.
1. I realized about halfway through my read that I’d read and loved this back in the 1990s! I’d always remembered the story but had never recalled the author or title. I must have had it as a library book once. That’s a great story! That sticks with you through decades after one reading in your early teens.
2. The Golden Lamb Tavern in Lebanon, Ohio is a real place. If you’re in the area you could eat dinner there tonight and be where (fictional) Susannah once was back in 1810.
3. Susannah’s dad mourns the loss of his wife (her mother) and chooses to join a Shaker community. Shaker history is endlessly fascinating to me. While this is a work of fiction it gets the community and their conflicts with the outside world over child custody.
4. This is yet another book that I wish had an adult equivalent book. I’d love to read this story in a more developed and literary novel.
5. I considered giving this book five stars but in the end went with four. I might still pop it up to five but I want to sit on it a bit and make certain I’m not giving it five stars for sentimentality.
1. I realized about halfway through my read that I’d read and loved this back in the 1990s! I’d always remembered the story but had never recalled the author or title. I must have had it as a library book once. That’s a great story! That sticks with you through decades after one reading in your early teens.
2. The Golden Lamb Tavern in Lebanon, Ohio is a real place. If you’re in the area you could eat dinner there tonight and be where (fictional) Susannah once was back in 1810.
3. Susannah’s dad mourns the loss of his wife (her mother) and chooses to join a Shaker community. Shaker history is endlessly fascinating to me. While this is a work of fiction it gets the community and their conflicts with the outside world over child custody.
4. This is yet another book that I wish had an adult equivalent book. I’d love to read this story in a more developed and literary novel.
5. I considered giving this book five stars but in the end went with four. I might still pop it up to five but I want to sit on it a bit and make certain I’m not giving it five stars for sentimentality.
July 9, 2021
Thrilled to hear the second coming already occurred, I missed it, and Jesus was a woman called "Mother Ann" second time round. Brilliant. Lolz
TBH, informative and gripping read. Would've adored growing up.
TBH, informative and gripping read. Would've adored growing up.
March 11, 2023
Read for Popsugar: a book with a one-word title
A slow-paced look into a Shaker community in early 1800s Ohio. Susannah, forced to join because her father does, remembers her late mother and takes care of the other new children.
A slow-paced look into a Shaker community in early 1800s Ohio. Susannah, forced to join because her father does, remembers her late mother and takes care of the other new children.
November 7, 2018
This story of the Shaker sect illustrates good intentions, but warped theology. This happens when people follow a person and flawed thinking, rather than, the LORD and His perfect Word.
April 15, 2019
Not very exciting. I didn't like the ending very much; I thought Susannah should have gone with Mary and her mother.
March 20, 2015
"In March of that year, my fourteenth year, a great wind blew down on the settlement at Turtle Creek, littering Sister Olive's garden plot with the limbs of trees." The eponymous Susannah in Janet Hickman's interesting short novel has been brought to a Shaker community in Ohio in 1810 by her widower father who has become a Believer. Susannah encounters many trials and tribulations including a crisis of faith that cause her sojourn in the village to be one of much conflict.
Readers will learn the basics of the Shaker faith which emphasized "orderly ways of work and worship" and separated families from one another, man from woman, and child from parents. Susannah is approached by a great-aunt who wishes to take her away to Philadelphia, but she is also pulled by a strong bond to a young girl under her care whose mother hopes to remove her from the yoke of the Shakers.
The story is peppered with religious adages such as "No one needs to wind God's clockwork" and "God was parent enough" and there's also a tense episode when a local militia comes to remove some of the children. The Believers prevail and are left in peace - "the mob simply unraveled, leaving the village untidy but unharmed." Custody disputes were a major source of trouble between the Shakers and outsiders.
This book was especially interesting to me as it detailed a fascinating period of religious fervor and persecution in the State of Ohio which has seen more than its share of these disputes. Susannah's first stop on her flight is at the Golden Lamb tavern in Lebanon, Ohio, which is still in existence and serving weary travelers.
Readers will learn the basics of the Shaker faith which emphasized "orderly ways of work and worship" and separated families from one another, man from woman, and child from parents. Susannah is approached by a great-aunt who wishes to take her away to Philadelphia, but she is also pulled by a strong bond to a young girl under her care whose mother hopes to remove her from the yoke of the Shakers.
The story is peppered with religious adages such as "No one needs to wind God's clockwork" and "God was parent enough" and there's also a tense episode when a local militia comes to remove some of the children. The Believers prevail and are left in peace - "the mob simply unraveled, leaving the village untidy but unharmed." Custody disputes were a major source of trouble between the Shakers and outsiders.
This book was especially interesting to me as it detailed a fascinating period of religious fervor and persecution in the State of Ohio which has seen more than its share of these disputes. Susannah's first stop on her flight is at the Golden Lamb tavern in Lebanon, Ohio, which is still in existence and serving weary travelers.
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February 3, 2016 This book is about a girl named Susannah who goes to live with the Believers and Shakers. The book is written in Susannah's point of view. The protagonist is Susannah, and other major characters are Mary, Susannah's father, Mary's mother, Sister Olive, and more. This story is about how Susannah's father makes Susannah go and live with the Shakers and Believers. Susannah doesn't want to live there, but she is forced to. Throughout the book, Susannah is trying to free Mary to her mother.
In my opinion, this book is a really good one. I liked it because it shows Susannah's love and care for little Mary. Throughout the book, Susannah is always putting Mary before herself. I thought that this book was very powerful because it shows how important it is to care for others. It also taught me about a new religion I didn't know about. The strength about the book is that like I said, it shows how much love and care you need to show for each other. I would recommend this book because it taught me how you have to live in their religion, and it also shows love, care, and respect. If this was part of a series, I would definitely read it because like I have been saying, it shows care and it shows what living in their religion is like.
In my opinion, this book is a really good one. I liked it because it shows Susannah's love and care for little Mary. Throughout the book, Susannah is always putting Mary before herself. I thought that this book was very powerful because it shows how important it is to care for others. It also taught me about a new religion I didn't know about. The strength about the book is that like I said, it shows how much love and care you need to show for each other. I would recommend this book because it taught me how you have to live in their religion, and it also shows love, care, and respect. If this was part of a series, I would definitely read it because like I have been saying, it shows care and it shows what living in their religion is like.
April 4, 2010
Susannah was just thirteen when her mother died. Then, to her dismay, her father decided the two would leave their Kentucky home and join a Shaker community in Ohio. Susannah hates life among the Shakers. They do not believe in families being together, and expect Susannah and the other children to forsake their ties to their parents and to the outside world. But Susannah defies all that. She is determined to help a little six year old girl, Mary, whose father has also decided to join the community with his child, escape and rejoin her mother in the outside world. But when given a chance for freedom, Susannah must choose between her own freedom or being there for little Mary. This sad, heart-wrenching novel explores issues of family, love, and loss, as a teenaged girl balances her own needs with that of the young girl entrusted to her care by a desperate mother.
March 10, 2013
gr 5-8 140 pgs
1810 Shaker community in Ohio. After her mother dies, 14 year old Susannah and her father move to the Shaker community in Ohio. Her father finds peace among the Shakers, but Susannah finds that all the rules and restrictions make her restless. Along with the other children of recent converts, Susannah is kept separate from her father. Susannah is determined to leave the community, but doesn't want to leave Mary, a little girl who has befriended her, behind. When Mary's mother, who left the Shakers, appears in the woods Susannah begins to think escape just might be possible.
The story provides a lot of information about what daily life was like in the 1810 Shaker community. I think this story would interest readers who like coming of age stories.
1810 Shaker community in Ohio. After her mother dies, 14 year old Susannah and her father move to the Shaker community in Ohio. Her father finds peace among the Shakers, but Susannah finds that all the rules and restrictions make her restless. Along with the other children of recent converts, Susannah is kept separate from her father. Susannah is determined to leave the community, but doesn't want to leave Mary, a little girl who has befriended her, behind. When Mary's mother, who left the Shakers, appears in the woods Susannah begins to think escape just might be possible.
The story provides a lot of information about what daily life was like in the 1810 Shaker community. I think this story would interest readers who like coming of age stories.
March 10, 2013
gr 5-8 140 pgs
1810 Shaker community in Ohio. After her mother dies, 14 year old Susannah and her father move to the Shaker community in Ohio. Her father finds peace among the Shakers, but Susannah finds that all the rules and restrictions make her restless. Along with the other children of recent converts, Susannah is kept separate from her father. Susannah is determined to leave the community, but doesn't want to leave Mary, a little girl who has befriended her, behind. When Mary's mother, who left the Shakers, appears in the woods Susannah begins to think escape just might be possible.
The story provides a lot of information about what daily life was like in the 1810 Shaker community. I think this story would interest readers who like coming of age stories.
April 11, 2021
Great story about a girl living in a Shakers' colony. Never read a story about this odd group
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews