The premise of this book sounded intriguing--and it was especially compelling based on how its presented with an intriguing meta-physical conceit--an author (named as Banks himself) discovers reels of tapes in an old library. These tapes contain the narrated story of Harley Mann, an elderly man who grew up in the New Bethany Shaker colony Florida, that eventually became part of the land Disney's Magic Kingdom was built on. The author transcribes Harley's tapes to tell his story.

Shakers were prohibited from marriage or sex--their "relationship" was with God and his two children, the male Jesus and a female Godly representative who came later. Harley's family becomes completely enmeshed into the Shaker community after his father dies and they labor for a while on a horrific plantation in the south. Their debts at the plantation are paid off and they're "rescued" by Elder John Bennett, who takes them to Florida.

Harley loves his community, work, and his faith, until he falls in love and starts a relationship with a woman who has TB that the community cares for. This relationship is the beginning of the end of Harley's relationship with the Shakers.

While Harley's story is intriguing, there's not much to it. I kept waiting for something more to happen--or there to be more to the land and Harley's connection to Disney. All the pieces of a good story were here except for enough conflict. I really wanted more. Banks absolutely has a way with words and crafting a story, the framing of this one is especially good. It just need a little more "juice."