- tells the true story of a woman from Virginia who dedicated her life to missions in China
- born in 1840, moved to China in 1873, died in 1912
- she has many struggles with family and co-missionaries
- convo: persecution of Christians, many deaths & murders (including beheading women and children), women preaching
Type: biographical chapter book
Ages: 10-15
Authors: Janet & Geoff Benge
To put it plainly, this was my least favorite biography from this series that I have read so far. Besides it taking a third of the book to even get to China (aka, a bit boring), I didn’t care for her attitude and disagree with a number of decisions she made. Nobody is perfect, yes, but if this biography is accurate, I’m surprised at the high praise she receives.
Missions work is more complicated than most people realize. I fully grant that from personal experience, and can understand why the authors might have chosen to highlight those details. However, it seemed disproportionate to the “better” parts of her experiences. I wonder if there was just not enough information for a book so they expounded on all these issues she had with fellow missionaries and mission boards in the States (that’s just a musing on my part).
I don’t regret reading it, and I’ll definitely be interested in reading more about her life from different authors. I have greatly enjoyed other biographies by the Benges, so please remember this review is only about this book!