Hannah Whithall Smith by Marie Henry.
Hannah Whitall Smith wrote one of the most beloved Christian classics of all time “The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life.” And in the hundred plus years since their publication, her books have been read by millions of Christians who have been helped to discover the abundant life Jesus promised. Yet so many difficult circumstances conspired to crush all joy and meaning from her life. It was the mid-1800s, and the approaching Civil War cast a spirit of tension and anxiety over the nation.
As a young wife and mother, Hannah met the simple joys of life the love of her successful husband, the birth of her children with delight and hope. Then personal tragedy thundered in: Her family would shun her for seeking spiritual answers outside her own Quaker upbringing. Death would claim four of her children. Her husband, a celebrated evangelist, suffered a nervous breakdown and later fell victim to a scandal that wrecked his ministry, and faith. She would make a shocking discovery about her husband and his “female friends.” One by one, the faith of her three grown children became infected with the intellectual skepticism that was weakening the church.
Hannah Whitall Smith is a powerfully told biography that brings the charm, the strife of war, and the revivalist atmosphere of the 1800s vividly to life. More importantly, it will help the reader find, as Hannah did, the “secret” of a life of unshakeable peace and happiness.
