From one of America's most beloved storytellers: a dazzling tapestry
of love and faith, memory and imagination that questions what it means
to look back and accept one's place in history. In 1971, Harley Mann
revisits his childhood, recounting his family's move to Florida's
swamplands--mere miles away from what would become Disney World--to join
a community of Shakers.
"Eerily timely. Can what's gone wrong in the past offer keys to the
future? The Magic Kingdom confronts our longings for Paradise; also
the inner serpents that are to be found in all such enchanted gardens."
--Margaret Atwood, author of The Testaments, via Twitter
Property speculator Harley Mann begins recording his life story onto a
reel-to-reel machine, reflecting on his youth in the early twentieth
century. He recounts that after his father's sudden death, his family
migrated down to Florida to join a Shaker colony. Led by Elder John, a
generous man with a mysterious past, the colony devoted itself to labor,
faith, and charity, rejecting all temptations that lay beyond the
property. Though this way of life initially saved Harley and his family
from complete ruin, when Harley began falling in love with Sadie Pratt,
a consumptive patient living on the grounds, his loyalty to the Shakers
and their conservative worldview grew strained and, ultimately, broke.
As Harley dictates his story across more than half a century--meditating
on youth, Florida's everchanging landscape, and the search for an
American utopia--the truth about Sadie, Elder John, and the Shakers
comes to light, clarifying the past and present alike. With an expert
eye and stunning vision, Russell Banks delivers a wholly captivating
portrait of a man navigating Americana and the passage of time.
