Amy Carmichael

India of Dohnavur

Plot

Bishop Houghton has captured the eventful life of Amy Carmichael in three sections. The first of these titled Preparation for a Life-Work captures Amy’s early years in Ireland, the influence of her family, her faith journey, her ministry among the ‘shawlies’ and the changes in the family fortune, Amy’s call to missions, her first experiences as a missionary in Japan, her brief stint in Ceylon and her life mission that began in South India.

The second section of the book, The Warfare of the Service is a complete record of Amy Carmichael’s mission work in Dohnavur, India. Beginning with the first temple child rescued by Amy Carmichael, this section walks the reader through the lives of the many children snatched from the perils of temple prostitution through the perseverant efforts of Amy Carmichael and her group of faithful followers. In this section and through the rest of the book, Amy Carmichael becomes ‘Amma’ meaning ‘mother’ to the many children she rescues.

The final section of the book called The Keeping of the Charge spans over the years when Amy Carmichael, confined to bed as a result of an incapacitating accident learnt to know her Saviour through the fellowship of suffering. Pain and immobility did not dampen Amy Carmichael who continued to be ablaze for the Lord whom she loved and her children whom God had given her. Many of Amy Carmichael’s best selling volumes were written only during her years of confinement in a solitary room.

Besides vivid descriptions and stirring accounts, Bishop Houghton has included pictures of Amy Carmichael and her children along with a map of that time to help readers.