"Not much is known about the historical Elizabeth Fletcher. Luetke’s straightforward prose serves well to fill out what Fletcher’s life outside her ministry may have been like, providing details of 17th century life and imagining that as a poor, illiterate farmer she may have drawn more on her experiences with the natural world than on a Bible that she couldn’t read. Luetke creates a family that could raise a person like Elizabeth Fletcher. "[Real Change, Jan 1-7 , 2019]

This book is a helpful orientation to some of the earliest Quakers in England and their persecution in the course of their spreading the word about this "new" idea that the Spirit of God resides in each of us and does not require paid clergy for access. It introduces many central concepts of Quakerism, such as convincement, Quaker values, refusal of hat honor and oaths. Unfortunately, the author takes so many liberties with the historical record in the interest of telling her story and communicating these customs that it becomes difficult to sort fact from fiction. To her credit, she does include at the end a 10-page biography of Elizabeth Fletcher and another 19 pages of "brief biographies of the young Quakers appearing in this novel," where she cites scholarly historical references toward that end. She also includes 10 queries for book discussion groups, some of which would stimulate excellent reflection and discussion.
I would have liked to shelve this book with Quaker History, but I think it will have to stay with Fiction (with a sub-classification of Quaker History). ( )