The Quaker Café by Brenda Bevan Reemes
Synopsis from Goodreads:
When Liz Hoole, a free-spirited liberal from the Midwest, marries into a conservative Quaker family, she knows that raising children in compliance with Quaker values will be challenging. Twenty-five years later, she still feels like she's falling short of expectations. Fortunately, her faith and her friends in the small, rural North Carolina town of Cedar Branch keep her strong.I'll be honest, I picked up this book because for some reason I find communities like the Amish and Quakers to be really interesting. Although the book actually didn't delve into the Quakers as much as I expected, the book itself turned out to be a pretty good read.
After her best friend's politically powerful father dies, Liz stumbles upon secrets from the past that threaten to unravel the current harmony in Cedar Branch, a town with a history of racial tension. As she researches more and eavesdrops on gossip at the Quaker Café, where everyone meets each morning, Liz soon discovers the truth about an injustice that she cannot reveal to anyone-not even her husband.
Surrounded by a cast of richly drawn Southern characters, Liz learns that even good people can make bad choices. Now, she must decide whether she has the strength to bring a past wrong to light, despite the consequences.
I love a book that can slowly bring about a mystery that I can't guess the ending to, and that's just what The Quaker Cafédid. It also brought in the issue of race, which is especially interesting to me since I'm working in Civil Rights at the moment. I really enjoyed all of the various characters, their families and how the author was able to explain who they were by their own background and life experiences.
I enjoyed reading The Quaker Cafe and definitely recommend it if you're looking for something with a little mystery, a few laughs, and a lot of interesting and dynamic characters.
