The Quaker Café

Written by Brenda Bevan Remmes

Narrated by Bahni Turpin

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.

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.

Revised edition: This edition of The Quaker Café includes editorial revisions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Jan 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781501220999

Brenda Bevan Remmes

Brenda Bevan Remmes has spent her career in health-care education as adjunct faculty with the medical schools at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and the University of South Carolina–Columbia. Her stories and articles have appeared in Newsweek and Southern publications and journals, and her first novel, The Quaker Café, was published in 2014. Remmes is a longtime member of the Religious Society of Friends (Conservative) of North Carolina. She lives with her husband near the Black River Swamp in South Carolina.

Reviews for The Quaker Café

[hopebird-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Community in small town starts to fracture when secrets of the past are uncovered. Friendship, love, understanding and forgiveness prevail as the main character struggles to do the right thing for family, friends and her community.

[laurasreading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was delighted to get a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.While this book opens with a death, as many murder mysteries do, the mystery to be discovered in this novel, goes much deeper than you would expect. This is really a book about friendship and family and adjusting to other people's lifestyles and expectations. Or rather learning how to accept others."How in God's name do you get death right?Or life, for that matter?It never goes the way you planned."I found this quote to really summarize the book nicely.Even in the toughest of times, there is humor if you are willing to see it.This was an enjoyable read.