and space, sitting at the feet of Lottie Moon, hearing stories from Southern Baptists' most renowned missionary. If any writer can deliver on the premise, it is Rosalie Hall Hunt, and she does so brilliantly in Lottie Moon and the Silent Bell.

Hunt is today's definitive voice on historic women on mission, and in these pages she draws on a lifetime's immersion in the study of Lottie Moon's life and work. For years, Hunt has portrayed the famous missionary in a dramatic monologue she performs in churches. She also taps the serendipitous perspective of having known someone who heard "Aunt Lottie's" stories firsthand. And, if that's not enough, it also happens that Hunt grew up in Lottie's beloved China as a child of missionaries and lived in a house where Lottie once lived.

What is it about Lottie that so captures the imagination? Is it the image of her, small in stature yet stalwart, facing down the challenge of sharing Jesus in a faraway land? Is it because she was especially loved by the people of her adopted China? Is it the allure of leaving behind home and family to answer God's call to be a missionary in a foreign place? For the rapt trio of young sisters gathered in Aunt Lottie's sitting room, perhaps it's the twinkle in her eye as she offers a plate of warm tea cakes. Won't you join them?