Steal Away Home by Matt Carter, Aaron Ivey

Steal Away Home by Matt Carter, Aaron Ivey ISBN-13: 9781433690655 Paperback: 152 pages Publisher: B&H Books Released: Aug. 1, 2017

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from NetGalley:
Thomas Johnson and Charles Spurgeon lived worlds apart. Johnson, an American slave, born into captivity and longing for freedom--- Spurgeon, an Englishman born into relative ease and comfort, but, longing too for a freedom of his own. Their respective journeys led to an unlikely meeting and an even more unlikely friendship, forged by fate and mutual love for the mission of Christ. Steal Away Home is a story set in the 1800s about an African-American missionary and one of the greatest preachers to ever live.


My Review:
Steal Away Home is a Christian historical novel set in 1841 to 1892 in England and America. It's a novel, not a biography or history book. According to the authors, they often used quotations from Spurgeon's or Johnson's own writing and most of the persons, places, and dates were based on real events.

I think I'd have preferred a nonfiction account so I'd know what Spurgeon actually thought versus what parts were the authors' take on the situation. This story just left me with questions. For example, Spurgeon's grandfather was portrayed as good preacher whom Spurgeon frequently heard preach. Yet their young Spurgeon thought of God as angry, condemning, and disgusted with him until a guest preach explained how much Jesus loved him. They have Spurgeon preaching that you find peace or find love in Jesus, yet we're repeatedly told that throughout his life he felt lost, more dead than alive, was crippled with depression and sorrow, and wished he was dead. I can understand why he struggled with depression, but it just came across like he preached a hope that he didn't feel in his own life. (Thomas helped him with this near the end of Spurgeon's life.)

Anyway, the story followed Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson from their youth until Spurgeon's death, showing the defining incidents in their lives. The story took a few chapters before it started moving smoothly forward (as the beginning was description-heavy and jumped around in time). At that point, it was interesting and moved along pretty quickly, but it was still narration-heavy. This book made me want to read a real biography of these two men.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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