On The Missionary Trail

Oct 7, 2024 6:25 AM

Author:Tom Hiney

This is the strange and wondrous story of an eight-year voyage and a mission to save souls. Their mission started in the South Seas, where they reported scenes of chiefs surfing, perpetual warfare and a sudden surge of Christianity. From there they went via New Zealand, Australia and its aboriginal hinterland, through 'the Orient' to India and slave-ridden Mauritius. Based on contemporary journals, mission reports, letters and illustrations, and bursting with character and anecdote. ON THE MISSIONARY TRAIL is both the enthralling narrative of the longest missionary voyage ever undertaken and a colourful, detailed, eye-opening snapshot of little-known worlds, set against the wider picture of evangelism and guilt, heroism and humanity.

Reviews

One of our best popular historians...with an impressive scholarly pedigree in Tudor history

—— Independent on Sunday

It is testament to Weir's artfulness and elegance as a writer that The Lady in the Tower remains fresh and suspenseful, even though the reader knows what's coming... One of the pleasures of The Lady in the Tower is that it invites the reader into the historiographical process as Weir's emphasis on primary sources allows us to evaluate them alongside her

—— Independent

Weir...knows her sources well. She writes in an engaging way and adopts an even-handed approach

—— Irish Times

This is vintage Weir: a thrilling episode of history superbly related and treated with penetrating analysis and a great dollop of common sense

—— Jessie Childs , Literary Review

The research is exhaustive... It would be hard to imagine a more thorough examination of any comparable historical issue... Weir is to be congratulated on her impartiality and sound judgement

—— BBC History Magazine

FASCINATING ... this is a highly enjoyable and thought-provoking book.

—— Irish Times

ILLUMINATING AND ENGROSSING ... eloquent and revelatory

—— New York Times Sunday Book Review

FASCINATING ... genuinely illuminating, illustrated with a wealth of compelling detail

—— Spectator

Everybody nowadays seems to take a view on Pakistan. Very few know what they're talking about. Anatol Lieven is that rare observer ... Pakistan: A Hard Country ... fills a large gap in our understanding

—— Edward Luce, author of 'In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India'

The publication of Pakistan: A Hard Country could not be more timely ... illuminating as well as entertaining

—— The Spectator

With patience and determination, Lieven observes and records all aspects of the curiosity otherwise known as Pakistan ... A sweeping and insightful narrative

—— Mohammed Hanif , The New York Times

A fascinating biography

—— Lesley McDowell , Herald

This book is excellent

—— Andrew Holgate , Sunday Times

This dramatic biography recreates her tragic life and the turbulent times in which she lived...Nemirovsky is one of those rare writers whose life is every bit as interesting as her work

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

This is a scholarly biography of a literary paragon... It is saturated with her writings, revealing her passions, hubris, moods and anxieties, as well as her thoughts of fiction, Jewishness and mothers... Russian social history, anti-Semitism and the Vichy regime's collusion with the Nazis are handled adroitly

—— Maggie Armstrong , Irish Times

An epic novel... The suspense lasts until the final pages. There is no let-up. At the end of the book, you really feel that even though Sashenka is a fictional character, she has become one of the thousands of real people who haunt the Moscow archives that Montefiore knows so well

—— SUNDAY EXPRESS

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