Janet Benge

3.5 stars

Mary Slessor (1848-1915) was a single Scottish woman who became a missionary to Nigeria when she was in her late twenties. It was encouraging to me that she was single, older, and without any particular "talents." (She worked in a mill before her time in Africa.)

The writing itself was just okay, but I enjoy virtually all missionary stories.

I wish there had been more of an epilogue, describing what happened after her death in the regions where she had worked. I would also have liked to hear more about her children. (I don't know how much source material actually exists for those topics, though.)… (more)

Quite a few years ago, Mom read Gifted Hands to our family. It was an excellent book, but I always wondered what happened after the book ended. I assumed Mr. Carson went on and did more successful separation surgeries, but since I didn’t have access to any of his later works, I didn’t know for sure. Until this book. This was our most recent audiobook for traveling as a family, and I found it to be another gripping story—even though I was already fairly familiar with a lot of the events.

The Benges write with a passion and ability that I admire. They don’t just spit facts and dates out on the page; they take you along to the individual’s life to watch things play out, as you see sometimes in a novel. As far as I can tell, this is a factual account of a good portion of Ben Carson’s life, but it’s written in a very engaging manner.

As far as Mr. Carson himself, it was inspiring to see how he chose the difficult path of learning and choosing obedience to his mother over his own wishes. Her influence changed the course of his life, and watching him struggle and learn—and learn to rely on God—was quite a blessing. If you enjoy biographies about Christians who choose to take God at His word and do their best to live in obedience to Him, this would be an excellent choice—even if you already know something of Ben Carson’s story!… (more)