As much a work of history as a novel, filled with characters actually drawn from the times and others crafted to interact with events, Kindly Welcome: A novel of the Shakers in the Civil War defies genre to appeal to a spectrum of readers as varied as the literary world can encompass. Decide for yourself: What did Amos see?

Little wonder that Amos Anger, a small boy abandoned by his parents years before, was endlessly curious about the turmoil that suddenly surrounded him and the people he loved most. America teetered on the brink of self-destruction, the year was 1861, and his home was Shakertown at South Union, Kentucky. Almost completely misunderstood since their 18th-century beginnings, the Shakers -- the so-called "Shaking Quakers" -- were amongst America's first visionaries. Pacifist, devoted to equality between men and women, and prolific inventors, these quiet people lived lives virtually unknown to their countrymen and women, then as now. Extraordinary and little-known diaries kept by Kentucky Shakers during the Civil War now form the background for a novel of peaceful Christian folk attempting to live the lives of Angels on Earth, with the War Between the States camped daily on their doorstep. Rich in detail, history and timelss wisdom, the tales of Amos Anger and those who raised him ring true for today's America, and bear re-reading again and again.

Born in Washington, D.C., Linda Stevens graduated Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina -- a Quaker kid at a Quaker school during the Vietnam War, an experience to last a lifetime. After working at Cosmopolitan Magazine with the legendary Helen Gurley Brown, she spent a few years editing paperbacks at Berkley Books before joining the New York Post as a general reporter and serving during many of its most colorful years. After many years of travelling pretty much everywhere, she now spends most of her time at home in rural England, and the rest of it on the road.