Outskirts Press, INC.

The Mennonite Missionary's Daughter

“When I read Tom Sawyer as a child, I enjoyed it because of the adventure. When I read it again as an adult, I marveled at how Twain revealed the uncanny ability of a child to relegate major events to a proper level of importance in their world. Gwendolyn Schroth has captured that same magic in her tales. The daughter of missionaries to India, she has told her story in a masterful way. I caught myself alternately laughing out loud and holding back tears at her use of humorous anecdotes to communicate her hopes and fears plus her inability to understand why so much sacrifice was required of a little girl.” Avon Acker, Author of Vigilante Caretaker, and Rom and the Promised Land. “This story delights. Like other Christian missionaries in the early decades of the 20th century heading toward unevangelized peoples in India, the author’s parents encounter things bizarre and wonderful. This story is written from the underside of that effort. It chronicles details noticed by a six-year old and lets readers get inside the conscience of a teenager. Here may be seen both the strengths and foibles of Mennonites. The story is told with a sometimes caustic, sometimes impish undertow. Matters of trivia are interwoven with global events of large proportion—Hitler, Gandhi. “ Elmer A. Martens, President Emeritus, Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California “ The universal appeal of this book—a childhood encompassing the two cultures of India and the United States, an alien with a double identity—lies not only in the light it casts on the work of foreign missions but also in the enrichment of international understanding. With humor, irony and humanity, Gwen tells her story of what it was like to be at home in a strange land and a stranger at home. Her narrative is delicate, brutal, and hilarious and is a moving exemplar of the value of ‘pucca’ in the genre of missionary’s children literature.” Margaret Adelman Smith, Kodaikanal School Alumna “This book portrays the wonderful possibilities and powerful reality of missionaries’ call to service. This warm and rich narrative explores this passion for mission and service to God through the education, faithfulness, and sacrifice of this missionary family. Readers are challenged to consider the direction of their own lives and the powerfulness of true dedication and service.” William W. Eason, Pastor, First United Methodist Church of Celeste, Texas