Quaker peace work in Spanish civil war
‘The focus on the Quaker children’s refuges brings an unusual, and at times, almost unbearably poignant perspective, as we see children, once again, fleeing the horrors of war today’.
Quaker peace work in the Spanish Civil War is explored in a new book by the author Maggie Brookes-Butt. The novel Acts of Love and War draws on research from Friends House Library and follows three young British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.
Maggie Brookes-Butt told the Friend: ‘The book was inspired by my [Quaker] friend Farah Mendlesohn’s PhD thesis about the humanitarian work of the FSC [Friends Service Council] in Spain during the civil war. The librarians at Friends House were very helpful in my research, and I particularly used the memoirs of Francesca Wilson and Kanty Cooper, who become two vibrant characters in my novel. Then I began to write, weaving a love story around the astonishing facts of the tiny number of people who delivered humanitarian relief to so many hundreds of thousands.’
Nikki Marmery, author of On Wilder Seas, says that ‘the focus on the Quaker children’s refuges brings an unusual, and at times, almost unbearably poignant perspective, as we see children, once again, fleeing the horrors of war today’.
The ebook is out in May, and hardback in June.
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