Curious about fiction that features Quakers, either as main characters or minor characters.

Does anyone recommend - or not recommend - any in particular?

I'm in the middle of one now that somebody passed on to me because it had Quakers in it. Probably best not to comment on it until I finish it. The title is "In Every Heartbeat" by Kim Vogel Sawyer, a historical novel, set in Missouri in 1914.

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There are a number.

Off the top of my head: Chesapeake by A. James Michener, The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog, I Take Thee, Serenity by Daisy Newman, The Witch at Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Margurite Henry, Still Forms on Foxfield by Joan Slonczewski.

Hope this helps
There are a number.

Off the top of my head: Chesapeake by A. James Michener, The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog, I Take Thee, Serenity by Daisy Newman, The Witch at Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Benjamin West and His Cat Grimalkin by Margurite Henry, Still Forms on Foxfield by Joan Slonczewski.

Hope this helps


This is probably more information than you want or need, but here it goes :-)

Quaker Summer by Lisa Samson

Mysteries

Elizabeth Elliot Mystery series by Irene Allen

Quaker Silence

Quaker Witness

Quaker Testimony

Quaker Indictment

 

Quaker Science Fiction

 

Joan Slonczewski Still Forms on Foxfield (Avon, 1988; first pub. 1980)

A group of Quakers have been living on the planet Foxfield for a century,

believing Earth destroyed in World War III. A new Earth government contacts the

residents of Foxfield, claiming authority over them.

 

Judith Moffett Pennterra. New York: Congdon & Weed, Inc. (1987)

This novel, set on a Quaker-colonized world, is full of Quaker characters and

references to Quaker beliefs, history, practices, etc. It prominently features

 

Molly Gloss The Dazzle of Day. New York: Tor (1997). (1998 Nebula

The novel starts on Earth, perhaps 100 years in the future, with Quakers

preparing to embark on a voyage to another planet using a generational ship.

Then, 175 years later, the descendants of the original colonists are at their

voyage's end. All of the characters are Quakers, and Quakerism is generally

 

Nancy Kress Crossfire. New York: Tor (2003)

Jake Holma forms Mira Corporation and gathers together diverse groups of

people to fund a one-way voyage of interstellar colonization

 

David E. Morse The Iron Bridge. New York: Harcourt Brace & Co. (1998)

The plot of The Iron Bridge has Maggie traveling back in time from the mid-21st

century to England in 1773. Earth has been devastated by industrialization. A

group of scientists and thinkers hopes that Maggie can prevent or postpone the

 

Daniel Turner Twillinger's Voyage. U.K.: Sessions of York/Ebor (2001)

GIirard ("Jerry") Twillinger is a 22nd Century Gulliver. He travels to a land of little

people called Zini. The underlying premise conditioning his voyage has been a

well-hidden philosophy of "friendly persuasion" -- the classic method of Quakers.

 

 

Anything by Quaker author Jessamyn West...but her "Friendly Persuasion" is surely one of the greatest Quaker themed novels ever. Plus they made it into a wonderful movie with Gary Cooper.

Chris,


There are several novels  I've read over they years, and that I'd recommend to one degree or another,  that come to mind:

  • The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog
  • Chesapeake by James Michener
  • Friendly Persuasion ( a series of short stories, really) by Jessamyn West
  • The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (often listed as "young adult" fiction)
  • I Take Thee Serenity by Daisy Newman
  • Silent Friends: A Quaker Quilt by Margaret Lacey, and
  • there are also a series of traditional Agatha Christie style mystery novels by Irene Allen where the protagonist, Elizabeth Elliott is the clerk of Cambridge (MA) Friends Meeting

Hope this is useful.

Blessings,

Carl Williams

Anyone ever hear of *Penelve: Or, Among the Quakers. an American Story* by Richard H Thomas.  It was written by Richard Henry Thomas, a committed minister among Friends of the Orthodox Baltimore Yearly Meeting.  The book was published in 1898, and is currently available as a reprint.

As I recall, *Penelve*'s setting is the Orthodox Friends' resort hotel in the Poconos in the late 19th Century.  (There was also a comparable Hicksite establishment nearby.)  I doubt that the book has great literary merit, but it certainly provides a window into the lives of affluent Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Friends of that era.

  

Thanks, everyone, for all the suggestions.  I didn't realize there would be so many novels with Quakers in them.

I have seen the film Friendly Pursuasion and have read Silent Friends, which was set in Iowa and very well written.

I did a search on www.librarything/subject/Quakers%09Fictionand pulled up quite a few other titles, including Philip Gulley's Harmony series, quite a few that are obviously fictionalized events from historical characters' lives,... and *The Quakeress*, an absolutely awful novel by one Charles Heber Clarke which I had found in a secondhand bookstore, and after reading the first few chapters of that potboiler, sent back.

The list also included a YA book I greatly enjoyed as a teen, *They Loved to Laugh* by Kathryn Worth, and for younger ones, the Obadiah books by Benjamin Turkle, and, my introduction to Quakerism and still treasured by me today, Marguerite de Angeli's *Thee, Hannah!*


Oh my gosh...how could I forget "Thee Hannah" and all 3 "Obadiah" books...and I second "They Loved to Laugh" a lovely read.


Barra Jacob-McDowell said:

 did a search on www.librarything/subject/Quakers%09Fictionand pulled up quite a few other titles, including Philip Gulley's Harmony series, quite a few that are obviously fictionalized events from historical characters' lives,... and *The Quakeress*, an absolutely awful novel by one Charles Heber Clarke which I had found in a secondhand bookstore, and after reading the first few chapters of that potboiler, sent back.

The list also included a YA book I greatly enjoyed as a teen, *They Loved to Laugh* by Kathryn Worth, and for younger ones, the Obadiah books by Benjamin Turkle, and, my introduction to Quakerism and still treasured by me today, Marguerite de Angeli's *Thee, Hannah!*

'Howard's End' by E.M.Forster ~ Mrs Wilcox is identified as a Quaker just once early in the book. It is her legacy that shapes the story and affects the characters. I can recommend it as a masterpiece!

There were quaker ships - for instance Penn's fleet that took Friends to the New World. But in the case of Moby Dick, Pelag and Bildad were described as 'fighting quakers'. Quakers are obviously well known as pacifists and conscientious objectors, so this was a little joke by the author.
 
Jeremy Voaden said:

One reference that I have never understood, is that at the start of Moby Dick, where it is stated that the whale-hunting vessel is a "Quaker ship". Given the nature of Captain Ahab and the other seamen, and the purpose of the vessel, this has always struck me as curious. Does anyone know if there were such "Quaker ships" and any background to them?
Great book.

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