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Submitted photo
REGION — Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village presents a special live discussion and audience Q&A with Lois Lowry and Brother Arnold Hadd discussing Lois’ book “Like the Willow Tree,” an historical fiction set at Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village. The live event will take place via Zoom on Monday, April 12, 2021 at 6pm and is open for pre-registration at maineshakers.com. The talk is free and open to all age groups and will be live-streamed on Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village’s Facebook page, optional donations are gladly accepted.
In the book, when their parents fall victim to the influenza epidemic of 1918, 11-year-old Lydia Pierce and her older brother, Daniel, are taken by their uncle to live in the Shaker Community at Sabbathday Lake, Maine. Through Lydia’s diary entries we come to experience Shaker life and to appreciate her grieving, acceptance, and eventual appreciation for the community that was to become her family.
Brother Arnold will speak about children’s life at Shaker Village and how being raised by the Shakers was a common practice at the time. Lydia’s experience was based on both written and oral histories passed from one generation to the next. Brother Arnold will share many of those stories and also share the perspectives of the Shakers that raised these children.
A tale of heartbreak and hope on both sides of the experience, Lowry’s poignant story of living through the Spanish influenza pandemic sadly seems more resonant than ever before. In the face of COVID-19, readers are sure to draw comfort from Lydia’s journey to find and discover the sense of community that she longed for.
Lois and Brother Arnold will also discuss how Shaker Village functioned through the harrowing Spanish Influenza compared with the modern-day struggles of living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Amidst dozens of unplanned lambs being born on the Shaker farm, staff at home on lock-down, and the primary businesses closed, the Shakers are still finding ways to function as an expanded community.
Two-time Newbery medalist author Lois Lowry researched this era of Shaker history through primary resources in the Shaker Museum & Library archives as well as interviews with Brother Arnold to capture the oral histories. Hers is a fascinating and historically accurate contribution to Shaker storytelling and to the “Dear America” series from Scholastic Books, fictional diaries in the voices of young girls living history. Beloved for her many contributions to children’s literature such as “The Giver,” “Number the Stars,” and “The Willoughbys” which was recently produced for Netflix, Lois’ says her “books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections.”
Brother Arnold has been a member of the Shaker Community since 1978, his knowledge has shaped his vocation in immeasurable ways, and it has also resulted in his incredibly valuable role at Shaker Village. Inspiring all around him to appreciate, honor, and respect Shaker life, and its philosophies, values, mission, and vision. From individuals living around the world to those who work with him every day, people look to him to set the standards and be the guidepost that marks a way forward. In this way, Brother Arnold represents and embodies the living cultural practices and philosophies of a Church that began more than 200 years ago. He has dedicated his life in service to his calling to the Gospel and the Christlife, and he sets the standards for Shaker Village, not by expectation or insistence, but rather by example.
“Like the Willow Tree” is available for purchase through Shaker Village at maineshakers.com/shop and includes a 2020 introduction reflecting on the current COVID-19 pandemic by Lois Lowry.
FMI: https://www.maineshakers.com/likethewillowtree/
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