Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that…
Loading...

Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead

by Christine Wicker

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
242443,425 (3.69)6

None.

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Showing 4 of 4
She's a fine reporter. ( )
  picardyrose | Nov 10, 2009 |
Fun and funny look at a community of mediums. Very entertaining. ( )
  butterflyknit | Aug 22, 2008 |
I love this book! It is a story of the town of Lily Dale, its history, its inhabitants and even some of its visitors. It is compelling and honest. Each character is explained and discussed in such a way, that one feels that they could walk into the town, and simply walk up to folks and know them!

I have wanted to visit Lily Dale for many years, but have so far not had the opportunity, After reading this book, I feel that I have managed a visit . I know for certain that I have learned much more than I ever could on my own about the mediums and townsfolk. I strongly recommend Lily Dale to any one who is interested in Spiritualism, psychic mediums, or what we find when we cross over. ( )
1 vote mckait | Dec 12, 2007 |
Somewhat intereseting, but not near as much as the title would lead one to believe. ( )
  TheCelticSelkie | Jul 5, 2007 |
Showing 4 of 4
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Publisher series

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Book description
Haiku summary

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0060086661, Hardcover)

In Lily Dale, New York, the dead don't die.

Instead, spirits flit among the elms and stroll along the streets, sometimes dressed in garb more common 120 years ago, when Lily Dale was founded and suffragette Susan B. Anthony was a frequent guest.

According to Spiritualists who have ruled this Victorian hamlet for five generations, the dead don't go away and they stay anything but quiet. Every summer twenty thousand guests come to consult the town's mediums, who can hang out a shingle only after passing a test that confirms their connection to the spirit world.

On the hot June day when reporter Christine Wicker comes to the world's oldest and largest Spiritualist community, she is determined to understand the secret forces -- human or otherwise -- that keep Lily Dale alive. She follows three visitors: a newly bereaved widow; a mother whose son killed himself; and a beautiful, happily married wife whose first visit to Lily Dale brings an ominous warning.

Are the mediums cold-hearted charlatans, as Sinclair Lewis wrote of them? Or are they conduits for a hidden world that longs to bring peace and healing to the living, as psychologist William James and muckraker Upton Sinclair once hoped to prove?

Investigating a movement that attracted millions of Americans in the 1800s and now barely survives, Wicker moves beyond the mediums' front parlors and into the lives that tourists never see. She follows the mediums to a place where what we know and how we know it is the greatest mystery of all.

(retrieved from Amazon Sun, 13 Jan 2013 14:47:55 -0500)

(see all 3 descriptions)

Account of a small town in New York State dedicated to spiritualism.

Quick Links

Swap Ebooks Audio
3 avail.
21 wanted
2 pay

Popular covers

Rating

Average: (3.69)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5 2
3 16
3.5 7
4 15
4.5
5 9

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | Legacy Libraries | 82,026,494 books!