The Story of Isobel Kuhn

“You’re not going to attach wings to her, are you?” This question, in substance, has confronted me several times as I have been writing Isobel Kuhn’s biography.

No! No wings. Her own frank pen reveals her fallibility. But here anyone may also see the development of an extraordinary character. It was only in her own eyes that she was the usual sort. Others saw in her the sparkle of her two Irish grandmothers, the personal charm of her irrepressible father, the gifts of an actress and graces of a society girl.

When she “buried herself” as a missionary in China, doubtless many a voice protested that she was throwing her life away. But how could anyone then foresee how remarkably she would demonstrate one of Christ’s greatest paradoxes? “… whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake, shall find it.” So this is the story of one who deliberately threw away her life-and found it.