The Friendly Persuasion is an American novel published in 1945 by Jessamyn West

Jessamyn West (writer)

Mary Jessamyn West was an American Quaker who wrote numerous stories and novels, notably The Friendly Persuasion ....

. It was adapted as the motion picture Friendly Persuasion

Friendly Persuasion (film)

Friendly Persuasion is a 1956 Civil War film starring Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Richard Eyer, Robert Middleton and Phyllis Love. The screenplay was adapted by Michael Wilson from the 1945 novel The Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, and was directed by William Wyler...

in 1956. In 1969, West published a sequel, Except for Me and Thee, that included more stories of the Birdwells.
The book consists of a series of vignettes about a Quaker

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 family, the Birdwells, living in southern Indiana "near the banks of the Muscatatuck

Muscatatuck River

The Muscatatuck River is a bifurcate river in south-central Indiana. It is a major tributary of the East Fork of the White River, and drains . In one area it serves as the southern boundary of the main unit of the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge...

, where once the woods stretched, dark row on row."