Wednesday 9 May 2018

Not without tears: the Life of Favell Lee Mortimer

Last Saturday, I was at a curriculum fair where I was delighted to meet Christina Eastwood. Chris is a seasoned home educator with three, now grown up, children. She produced The Mother's Companion-a set of home education resources which we have used over the years. Chris has just written a new book: Not without tears: the life of Favell Lee Mortimer. 

Favell Lee Mortimer is almost unknown but was a best selling author in her day. Her books for children explaining the Gospel in simple terms may well have sold more than Alice in Wonderland.

Favell's life was completely unknown to me before reading this book but is fascinating. Descended from a slave and with uncles in the Prince Regent's circle, she was brought up in a wealthy household where her mother was converted through the witness of a governess.

Favell, herself, came to know the Lord after a family crisis but also after her mother had decided to send her daughters into high society, despite her previous convictions that this would not be right. After her conversion, Favell made the most of opportunities to teach children and became an expert teacher. She later used these skills in her books of which Line upon Line and Peep of Day are probably most famous.

Favell had some interesting friends. She was in love with the future Cardinal Manning, although was herself a convinced evangelical, and was entertained in the home of William Carus Wilson who was the infamous clergyman in Jane Eyre.

This book benefits from the discussion of characters and motivations. Sadly, Christina Eastwood didn't have access to the original letters which, apparently, still exist so she was reliant on secondary sources. Hopefully, the letters will be released at some point as they may well make fascinating reading.

This book is a quick read. It is worth learning about this gracious lady: Whose faith follow.
Highly recommended.

Chris Eastwood is due to speak about Favell Lee Mortimer at the Learn Free Conference, in Coventry, on Saturday, 19th May.

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Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own use. The opinions are mine. I chose to write a review because I enjoyed reading this book and wanted others to know about it.

3 comments:

  1. Thank you for the review! This sounds fascinating!

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  2. Thanks for letting us know about this lady, her life, and the book about her. I will be looking it up to consider purchasing it. :-)

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  3. Thanks for your review and as the publishers of this book, it is always great to read good feed back.

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