The Becker family returns in this book, less sympathetically portrayed than in Portofino. Mr. Becker’s foul-mouthed, foul-tempered mother has moved in with the family while she recovers from a broken hip, and the family is not taking it well. Calvin, now age fifteen, spends much of his time dreaming of running away to Italy to his beloved Jennifer. There are quite a few sexual references (mostly in fantasy form) throughout the book. Still a funny book in places, I found myself laughing less than I did while reading Portofino. More often I sat shaking my head in disgust at the very un-Christlike behavior of Calvin’s self-righteous parents (surely any mission board’s worst nightmare come true). The Beckers do not paint a very flattering portrait of missionaries and their work and they do not seem likable in this book.
Written from the perspective of Calvin Becker, son of missionaries in Switzerland, this book describes two family vacations in Italy. The Washington Times reviewer describes the book well: “Calvin’s observations reveal the ironies of a family that speaks in biblical phrases but faces all-too-human foibles… Under Mr. Schaeffer’s graceful rendering, this is a story of sympathetic characters, a deft feat considering some of their narrow views.” The book is often humorous, though sometimes at the expense of Calvin’s Reformed (i.e. narrowly Calvinistic) family.
Isabel and her brother Victor were born in Malaya but not long after put hastily onto a ship just ahead of the invading Japanese army and taken from the only home they’d known to be raised in England with an elderly aunt. Victor was just a baby, but Isabel mourned the parents and beloved amah who were left behind and never seen again. The book is set in 1973 when Victor, now a rather dull adult, invites the sentimental Isabel to go to Kuala Lumpur with him on a business trip. Defying her stiff and conventional husband, she agrees, giddy with anticipation of revisiting their childhood home and learning more about the fate of their parents, especially the mother, who she vaguely remembers disappeared shortly after Victor’s birth, leaving the children in the care of their father, and later, a kind stepmother. Victor disapproves of her “obsession”, wanting to leave the past buried. But even he is drawn in as they begin to learn more from one of his colleagues who had met their parents. Isabel is drawn to Malaysia – a country both familiar and unfamiliar – and to her brother’s colleague, Oliver, who helps her unravel the story of her family. This book has enough accurate descriptions of the area to delight those familiar with the country, and it touches on some of the emotions of returning to a childhood home after being away many years and finding oneself torn between a deep sense of belonging and a feeling of displacement.
A book from a bygone era (so rather dated in its style), this is a story about Ellyn Secord, daughter of medical missionaries, who hates the word “missionary” and all it stands for. She feels her parents’ career deprived her of their attention and of a real home. In her anger, she lashes out at those around her. When she learns through painful experience that this brings her no happiness either, she must confront her view of God and decide what to do about her relationship with him. Written by the mother of Bruce Lockerbie who did some of the early research on MKs.
Jon Kregel’s nonfiction, first person account of his life journey from missionary kid to professional soccer player (and teammate of soccer superstar Pele) to drug dealer and prison inmate. Jon writes about what really happens in the “glamorous” world of easy money and drugs. Against a backdrop of self-destruction and hopelessness emerges an inspiring, challenging story of the faithfulness of God and of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Rudyard Kipling is a controversial figure in today’s TCK world – a TCK from colonial times who wrote things that reflected the British mindset of the time, as well as things that were, for that era, remarkably counter-cultural and Progressive. For their historical value, we include from one short story collection, these three stories in which the protagonists are young British children raised in India.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep – Two young children (ages 5 and 3 years), are brought back from India to England to stay for 5 years until their beloved parents can return to them. The heart-wrenching description of the bereft children’s misery when they realize their parents are gone hints that this story is probably based on Kipling’s own experience being left with a strict caretaker in England who had no understanding of his former life in India.
Wee Willie Winkie – Willie, the precocious, little son of a Colonel in British India stands up to some ruffians intent on harming the young fiancée of an officer who Willie idolizes, after she strays into their territory. The Shirley Temple movie of this name was adapted from this story.
His Majesty the King – A little English boy in India has the affection of his nanny and his playmate’s kind mother, but longs for his own, preoccupied parents to pay attention to him.
