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Song of the nightingale

One woman's true story of faith and persecution in Eritrea

To die for

SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE
One woman’s true story of faith and persecution in Eritrea
By Helen Berhane with Emma Newrick
Authentic Media. 106 pages. £7.99
ISBN 978-1-85078-864-5

This is the first Christian book I have read cover to cover in over a decade, while others are dipped into and left for another day on the bookshelf. It’s almost a book to read in one go, not because it’s so lightweight it has no value, but because it’s gripping.

Helen writes in the first person narrative and she is impressive from a very young age. At 14, she knew she wanted to dedicate her life to doing God’s work. At 14, Helen was praying and fasting regularly with another girl. At 14, she discusses her ‘ministry’ as if it’s very normal for a young teenager to think like this.

This is about contemporary life in Eritrea — Helen submits to terrible treatment in the years between 2003 and 2006, finding her strength as she prays. I found myself marvelling at how someone so young could cope, with such maturity, holding out for her God and her faith, willing to die if necessary.

It is a beautifully simple book. It is a reminder that God is involved in the tiny, tiny details of our existence and that God provides what we need to his glory. It should change the way I pray, and the solutions I seek to life’s hurdles.

The book includes (at the end) a small introduction to Release Eritrea, a human rights organisation founded in 2004 by Eritreans living in the UK. With so much political debate about asylum, it is worth remembering how real religious persecution is and refraining from any unilateral prejudice and scepticism in matters concerning those seeking asylum in our country.

As a final thought, I should like my 12-year-old son and daughter to read Song of the Nightingale. If reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and watching The Kiterunner is OK, then so is this. I hope that their young minds will be struck by how serious our gospel is, and how precious it is, when for them it is so easily accessible and provokes little consequence.

Janet Burrowes,
full-time mother, member of Enfield Evangelical Free Church