The Peaceable Kingdom Author:Jan de Hartog "Like most American sagas, the story of the Quakers starts in Europe, in Lancashire, England, one summner afternoon of 1652, when two horsemen blundered into the quicksands of Morecambe Bay." One of those horsemen was George Fox, and the manor from which he was observed was Swarthmoor Hall, presided over by Margaret Fell. From the passionate mee... more »ting of these two grew the Religious Society of Friends, and out of the Quaker history Jan de Hartog has created this epic novel, a work of the imagination bursting with the vitality of greatness, in chracter, in faith and in story.
From its gripping start in the England of cromwell to its immensely moving climax in the American wilderness, The Peaceable Kingdom tells the story of the Children of the Light and their Holy Experiment. Here they are, many based on people who lived, generation after generation, founding a new faith, seeking freedom in the New World, achieving a unique peace with the Indians, subduing the wildnerness, struggling with the agonizing issue of slavery, experiencing triumphs of faith and deeds and defeats by nature and human frailty.
"I was moved," says de Hartog, "to erect a monument to these generations..who transmitted the love of God through their lives rather than their words." Perhaps the greateest achievement of this passionate novel lies in its revelation of the miracle of compassion, which is at the heart of the Quaker movement.« less