Vagabond Quakers

 Vagabond Quakers: Northern Colonies

Quakers refrain from violence, but this new historical adventure proves they bear it with courage and passion, when it is brought against them. The heroines of Olga R. Morrill's new historical saga bravely face brutal discrimination and horrific punishments simply for being missionaries for the Society of Friends in Puritan New England.

In 1662 missionaries Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose leave England for Dover, Massachusetts. They are missionaries for the Society of Friends, a religion that is shunned and persecuted, particularly in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Quakers have been hanged in Boston-indeed, the women's friend and mentor Mary Dyer was one of those executed for her beliefs.

The two young Friends are barely on American soil before they are confronted by Dover's Puritan minister, John Reyner. The humiliated clergyman arranges their arrest, and the women are brought before the magistrate Richard Walderne.

In alternating chapters, Morrill also tells Richard's story, narrating his harsh early years in the colonies. He is now one of the most powerful men in the New World, and he plans an especially cruel penalty for the Quaker women.

The destinies of Mary, Alice, and Richard entwine in this complex look at faith and brutality in early Colonial American history.

Historical Fiction