The Small Woman

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Summary: The Small Woman
Review: Gladys Alyward was rejected by the CIM because she failed on her theology test, still certain that God wanted her in China, she crosses Russia when they were at war with China over Manchuria, She makes a narrow escape from Russia,as the Russian soldiers mistake missionary for mechanic,gets to China and travels to a small city in northern Shansi. Here she learnd Chinese fluently, gets her name Ai-Wah -Deh (The Victorius One)from stopping a blooy prison riot,converts the mandarin to christianity, falls in love with Linan, a nationalist general and finally amid typhod fever and internal injuries marches to Sian with one hundred children orphaned by Japanese bombs.

I did find it a little disapointing that it does not quite finish the story...but as she was still alive when this book was written it can't be helped.

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Summary: The beginning of a new adventure for you!
Review: The movie made me want to read the book. I've read & re-read it. It wets your appetite for adventure in another place, another time. I've begun looking for other books about China and Gladys. I'm enjoying discovering the History, the time, the landscape, it's inhabitants and the many authors who've written about China. It has made me want to go to China to see the places she roamed and walk there. It's romance, history, adventure, so many things in one small book.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written True Story of an Incredible Woman
Review: This is a true story of an insignificant English maiden who went to China to tell the Chinese people of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Alan Burgess weaves a masterful tale, including harrowing escapes, a clash of cultures and customs, extreme poverty and deprivation, amidst an enchanting background of picturesque cities tucked in the misty mountains of Northern China, official Mandarins on palanquins, and the dusty mule trails that tie it all together.

There is even a love story of Gladys and a Nationalist army officer tucked in between the bombing of her town and the marching of 100 children refugees over treacherous mountains to Sian (Xian) in search of an orphanage to care for them.

You'll not be able to put this book down, and you'll laugh and cheer for the glorious work that God does through this determined and hardy woman.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written True Story of an Incredible Woman
Review: This is a true story of an insignificant English maiden who went to China to tell the Chinese people of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Alan Burgess weaves a masterful tale, including harrowing escapes, a clash of cultures and customs, extreme poverty and deprivation, amidst an enchanting background of picturesque cities tucked in the misty mountains of Northern China, official Mandarins on palanquins, and the dusty mule trails that tie it all together.

There is even a love story of Gladys and a Nationalist army officer tucked in between the bombing of her town and the marching of 100 children refugees over treacherous mountains to Sian (Xian) in search of an orphanage to care for them.

You'll not be able to put this book down, and you'll laugh and cheer for the glorious work that God does through this determined and hardy woman.

Rating:
Summary: The Small Woman
Review: This is a very moving account of Gladys Aylward's missionary service in the mountain villages of North China. She was an "independent" self-supporting Missionary (not CIM - China Inland Mission's missionary : because by CIM's reckonings, she didn't qualify.) That the book and her life got to be written is itself a miracle. Woven into it was also a gripping account of life and death as the Chinese struggled against the Japanese invaders during the early stages of World War II. Perhaps poignant was this exchange towards the end of the book :"When had you been last home ?" asked the American missionary. She smiled, "What chance have I of going back to England when I don't even know where tomorrow's dinner's coming from ?" (She had been away from home for 17 years.) The book is a very powerful account of the moving of the Lord.