NH Author and retired librarian, Olga Morrill, has published an intriguing work of historical fiction about the missionaries for the Society of Friends in Puritan New England.
Vagabond Quakers: Northern Colonies is set in the mid 1600s and reveals a period in early Colonial New England history that has been largely glossed over in our educational system. The book is firmly based on historical references that tell of the remarkable brutality the Puritan authorities in Massachusetts Bay Colony brought to bear against the Society of Friends. By landing at Dover Point on the Piscataqua River in June of 1662, Quaker missionaries Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose elude arrest for six months. They are safe on the eastern bank of the Piscataqua under the protection of Nicholas Shapleigh, but as soon as they return to Dover in December, they are imprisoned for their faith and brought before the magistrate Captain Richard Walderne, who pronounces a harsh sentence. Vagabond Quakers tells two stories - that of the women during their year in New England, as well as Richard Walderne's rise as a young immigrant in 1635 to his position of power on Dover Point and his clash with the Quaker missionaries in 1662. Early New Hampshire and Boston history is told in his chapters. --Author's blurb.Olga R. Morrill will be at the Moultonborough Public Library, Moultonborough, NH on Thursday, August 31, 2017 at 7 pm and the Dover Public Library, Dover, NH on Wednesday, September 6, 6:30pm to discuss her research, read an excerpt from the book, and sell signed copies. You can visit Olga's blog to look for future visits at libraries around the state.
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