This morning after church one of the young mothers stopped me in the hall to tell me, “My husband is reading your book and he really likes it” We discussed the cover which she said was “girly,” but the subject matter –“white slavery” (today’s trafficking)– is of interest to both male and female.
Before Daughters of Deliverance launched last December, I sent the PDF to my son who is teaching overseas. (Sons are very direct and honest so I was a bit leery of what he might say.) He remarked he really liked the book, but he thought that I was a bit hard on men, that there weren’t good men in the story. I reminded him of Kate’s wise father, the contractor for the Evanston lighthouse, still standing today; or Senator Fitch who rallied the Wisconsin legislature to pass a law against the den keepers; or even David, the young medical student who wanted to ask her parents for permission to court her. My son admitted there were some good men in the story, but that they were overshadowed by men like Blonger who ruled the streets of Chicago’s Hell’s Half Acre. I still hear him say, “Mom, I didn’t think such things went on in the nineteenth century.”
I suspect few men will read Daughters of Deliverance, or its sequel, The Queen’s Daughters,” launched this past September, because they think it’s about girls. And the main character is a woman, Katharine Bushnell, the historic heroine of the story. She was a famous activist against sex slavery and a woman of prayer and obedience to God’s call on her life (sordid as it may seem at times.)
Two men have written endorsements for these books. Larry Andrews is the president of Partners International which, among other ministries, repatriates girls kidnapped into sex slavery. Dr. Dan Rickett serves as executive vice president for She Is Safe.
Christmas is almost here. Perhaps you could give one of the men in your life — husband, brother, son–a copy of Destined for Loyalty or The Queen’s Daughters. Tell them they are based on the true story of a woman in the nineteenth century who obeyed God and went through danger and hardship to rescue girls out of evil situations that are still going on today.
And, Oh yes, the books are available as Kindle ebooks in India and England!
LORRY LUTZ 