Jennifer Lin has produced a well-researched and compelling book focusing on her family's history in the Church in China. Through previously unearthed material Lin provides a unique insight into the history of the Christian Church in China as she details the recent history of the Lin family. As the author tells us, ‘the journey of our family over five generations was the very story of the rise of Christianity in China, a saga of hardship and hope, of pain and perseverance that started when a fisherman from Fujian heard the ideas of strangers and did not turn away’.

Lin divides the book into six parts beginning with Lin Yongbiao, the first family member to convert to Christianity and work for the Anglican mission in Fuzhou as a cook. Throughout the six sections, the author expertly weaves the family's history with important political and religious developments in China between the late nineteenth and twentieth century. The first section focuses on Lin Yongbiao's conversion, his work for the mission and the opportunity provided to him to educate his son, Lin Dao'an, who later went to work as a doctor. The following sections focus on the rise and fall of Lin Pu-chi's (Lin Buji) career in the Chinese Church and how political conditions affected the fortunes of the family and the Church. The author specifically notes the impact of rising nationalism on Lin Pu-chi's rise to become the first Chinese president of Trinity College and a leader in the Church. Although the author does not go to great pains to point out the political activities of the students, it is clear that students in the early Christian schools accepted and acted on the rising patriotic movements in China. In one case the author tells us that Lin Pu-chi gave a speech when he was a student in which he said that China must have railroads and ‘we must build [them] ourselves’ (p. 45). The involvement of Christian students in society during this period has recently become a point of intense interest among scholars. Part iv outlines the fortunes of the family in China after 1949 through the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s. While we know that this was a trying time for the Church in China, the material that the author has unearthed provides deeper insights into its impact on Christian families and church leaders. In particular, she provides details on the impact that this period had on the children of Chinese church leaders. While the book certainly focuses on the history of the Chinese Christian community, it does not leave the foreign missionary community out of the story. Of particular note are the difficulties that John Wolfe and the Anglican missionaries encountered in setting up their mission. Through this book Jennifer Lin has provided new material and insights into the history of the Chinese Church during a particularly tumultuous period of modern Chinese history.