DANCE UNTO THE LORD

This well-researched historical novel reveals the intimate world of the Union Village Shaker community that flourished in southern Ohio in the early 19th century. Dell, who was born in Ohio in 1901 when the community was still struggling along (it closed in 1912), has spent a lifetime fascinated by the Ohio Shakers; he began work on this novel more than 30 years ago, when he retired from teaching at Capital University. Dell is a knowledgeable historian, sensitively portraying tensions within antebellum Shakerism, which was spreading its influence from the Northeast to the Midwest. The book's protagonist is one Richard Robinson, an uneducated young man who leaves his farming home for the opportunities of pre–Civil War Cincinnati. While he is there, his childhood sweetheart, Ruth, joins up with the Shakers, leaving no word of her whereabouts. When Richard leaves Cincinnati disillusioned and as penniless as when he arrived, he has to search high and low for her in "Shakertown." Dell fills the novel with fascinating details about daily life among the Shakers, from their meals and work habits to their hymns and distinctive dances. But impeccable history does not always make for compelling fiction. The book is dragged down by page after page of narrative description, uninterrupted by so much as a glimpse of a character or a plot line. In particular, the courtship of Richard and Ruth is slimly presented, with too little dialogue. (Nov.)