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 PrintableVersion BetsyThe dramatic biography of prison reformer, Elizabeth FryThoroughly three-dimensionalBETSY Thankfully, this publication does not fall into the trap, that so many Christian biographies do, of concentrating only on the strengths and successes of its subject and hardly mentioning his or her weaknesses or failures. ‘Betsy’ is presented as a thoroughly three-dimensional figure, who, despite her faith and remarkable achievements in transforming the prison service (not only in this country but throughout Europe) suffered from a life-long fear of death and constantly struggled with both depression and her role as a wife and mother. Despite being a woman and the social conventions of the time, Betsy found that she felt most at home in the ‘theatre of action’ of public life and it is truly amazing to read of her courage, compassion and vision in dealing both with those most despised and rejected by society and those most privileged and powerful. At the age of 18, Betsy had been moved by the words of a minister at a Quaker meeting, who spoke of ‘the light that is Christ Jesus’ and declared that ‘no lives are so unlovely, nor so unworthy, nor so lost that they are beyond the reach of that light’. It was this conviction, which Betsy took with her to confront the horrors of Newgate Gaol a further 18 years later and inspired all her campaigning thereafter. The difficulty, however, I had with this book is that I found it hard work to read. It is a very scholarly and well-researched account of Elizabeth Fry’s life and the religious and social context of the time, but felt more like a textbook for academic study than the inspirational story, which, somewhat hidden among all the detail, it undoubtedly is. Sadly, as such, I think it will have limited appeal. Nadine Parker, © Evangelicals Now - December 2005 |
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