NOVEL: The Red Book

Red book - coverSource: Bespoke Christian Publishing

The Red Book, by Gillian Newham. Bespoke Christian Publishing, 2020. 342 pages.

A nineteenth-century missionary spends 20 summers among Mongolian herdsmen, seeing no fruit but leaving behind a precious Mongolian Bible with a holy man who was his friend.

Nearly a century later, we meet a family in the same area, still keeping their herds and living much as their ancestors did, but in a changing Mongolia. The novel focuses on several members of the family questioning if there is something more than their traditions and way of life and seeking truth and purpose.

Though the world has lots of Christian fiction, novels about missions are few and far between and sometimes don’t ring true. I was impressed with this one. It provides a loving look at Mongolian thinking, culture, experience, and spirituality and will be welcome to those who know or want to know more about Mongolia, though the unfamiliar Mongolian names and phrases might lose a reader not willing to persevere.

The author and her husband live and serve in Mongolia.

» Purchase the Kindle edition for US$9.99; also available in paperback. Read an interview with the author or read her previous book (a memoir) Far from Cold.

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