Barbara Schell Luetke's Blog

Editor of Book Reviews at Friends Journal

Karie Firoozmand rated it it was amazing
I was excited about The Kendal Sparrow, but when I read it I was stunned! I did not know that so many of the early Quaker leaders who spread the movement were young adults and even teens. Their freshness comes through in the dialogue. The historical details are well-researched so that the books works as a novel and also as a teacher of Quaker history!

Kindle, audiobook, and London

The Kendal Sparrow is now available in the Kindle format from FGC Quakerbooks and will soon be made into an audiobook as well. It is finally available in Great Britain by contacting James Newman-Shah

Edith Maxwell, author of the Quaker Midwife Mysteries.

The Kendal Sparrow takes us on an enthralling journey of risky early ministry with a young Friend in the days when the term was barely coined. Debut novelist Barbara Luetke weaves a fictionalized tale of the real Elizabeth Fletcher in mid-sixteen-hundreds England and Ireland. Elizabeth, one of the "Valiant Sixty," died at only nineteen her from travails of preaching silence at a time when being called a "Quaker" was an insult. Readers will appreciate the deeply researched historic detail as they experience the setting and times of the first Friends of the Truth.

By Max Carter, Quaker

Early Quakers opposed novels, but it's no fiction that as the subject of a skilled writer such as Barbara Luetke, they make for intriguing reading! The Kendal Sparrow lets the life of Elizabeth Fletcher tell the story of how young men and women of the 17th century sought to transform the world, addressing issues as relevant today as they were then. Max L. Carter, emeritus William R. Rogers Director of Friends Center and Quaker Studies at Guilford College. Author of numerous books and articles on Quaker history and spirituality. Quaker educator for 45 years.

Adult Young Friends Reclaim Your History

Growing up in the Religious Society of Friends, the stories of those who founded our faith were plentiful – but the young age of George Fox and those he convinced were noticeably absent. Here the experiences of Elizabeth Fletcher and her companions, alongside so many well-known Quaker names, retell the history of Quakerism’s founding through the teenagers who brought it to life. Complete with 20 of the true biographies of these adult young Friends at the book’s conclusion, The Kendal Sparrow provides generations to come with an invaluable enjoyable read. Let us reclaim our history. Breeze Richardson, member of Oread Friends Meeting (Lawrence, Ks); Trustee, Friends Publishing Corporation (2012-2018). Author of numerous articles published in Friends Journal about contemporary young Friends.

Ben Pink Dandelion, Director of the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, Professor of Quaker Studies

Carefully researched, this novel captures the excitement and risk that the new life Quakerism offered its early converts, how outcasts could find meaning in a life of ministry and preaching, and how loving friendship bound the Quaker network together. Deftly paced and very moving.
Ben Pink Dandelion, Director of the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies at Woodbrooke Quaker Study. Author and editor of volumes on Quaker history, theology and sociology, as well as devotional books for Quakers. Ben lives near Pendle Hill in England.

Off to the New Your Times. Book Review

My novel, The Kendal Sparrow, has been sent to the New Your Times Book Review. This is a dream come true.

Off to the New Your Times. Book Review

My novel, The Kendal Sparrow, has been sent to the New Your Times Book Review. This is a dream come true.

Off to the New Your Times. Book Review

My novel, The Kendal Sparrow, has been sent to the New Your Times Book Review. This is a dream come true.