The Peculiar People is the 4th of the historical novels about the Quakers written by Jan de Hartog. The first was Peaceable Kingdom, followed by The lamb's War, then The Trail of the Serpant, now this book. Other than The Lamb's War which takes place in Hitler's Germany, the other 3 follow nearly chronologically from George Fox's 16th century England to the 19th Mid-west America. de Hartog has an amazing touch of creating live people with earthy desires juxtaposed against the Friends meetings of silent inhibitory social posturing. His books are alive with adventure, love, and catastrophes; history moves along in veritable transparency and in keeping with the times with the characters. It is difficult to not finish one of these books in less than a few days or even one sitting.
I was fortunate to find and read all of these books in the Friends House in Honolulu over the years while I ran the Honolulu Marathon and later medical mission journeys to and from Vietnam. Later I found other books by de Hartog which I consider real jewels: Star of Peace, The Distant Shore, The Captain. I was never able to find the English translation for The Hospital, a true to life story of the author's work in a hospital. I am still looking.
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