Her real
name was Charlotte Maria Tucker, but her books were published
semi-anonymously under the pseudonym A.L.O.E. - A Lady Of England.
Born in England, her father was twice chairman of the British East
India Company, and her family was well off financially. Her original
writings were not necessarily always Christ-exalting, but later on
her focus changed and she wrote always with a very clear purpose- to
bring glory to God and encourage her readers, especially children, to
trust and follow Christ with all their hearts. In
nearly every book she clearly presents the Gospel, and always
ties it to the necessary change which will take place in the life of
a believer. I am not sure if she is reformed in her theology or not,
but in every book I have read by her the plan of salvation is
Biblical. I first ran across one of her books soon
after we listened to our first Lamplighter Theater audio drama. I
hunted around online to see if I could find any free ones, and found
the first two episodes of The Robber's Cave (a continuing favorite of
mine). I was disappointed when it turned out to be only a sample,
because I desperately wanted to find out what happened. How did the
story end? So I got on Internet Archive and hunted down the book.
Of course I really liked it, and wanted to read more of her stories,
but got distracted and kind of forgot about them. Then just recently
I was reminded of A.L.O.E. when browsing around the Lamplighter
website, and decided to find a few more of her titles online. Here
are a few that I've found:
This book is possibly the best allegory I've read,
next to The Pilgrim's Progress.
It is the story of a priceless diamond from India, called the Atma
(signifying the
soul
in some Eastern language), which
is lost, and passes through many different hands before being
recovered. Each person who finds it loses it in some way, and each
way is one in which many people lose their own most precious
possession- their souls. One loses it through a life of gaiety,
another through drink, another through passionate anger, another
through gambling and so on. Maurice Somers is the main character,
though not a very clear one, as the story follows the Atma
more than him. Some of the other characters repent of their sins and
are saved, some just continue on the downward path. This book is not
perhaps the most interesting pleasure read, but is very thought
provoking and instructive.
This was the first
book I read by A.L.O.E. and is a favorite of mine. It is the story
of Horace Cleveland,
a headstrong young Englishman who is traveling in Italy with his
mother, whom he disrespects and overrules with his own strong will.
When they are captured by robbers, his mother is set free to try and
obtain a pardon for the robber captain's son, knowing that the life
of her own son depends upon God's blessing on her efforts. As she
works desperately to save Horace, he finds a friend in the robber's
den, a young Italian Christian named
Raphael, the brother of one of the robbers. As
their friendship develops, Raphael
leads him to Christ, and
eventually through his efforts, Horace is set free in more than one
way, though
it costs Raphael his life.
Lamplighter produced a very good audio drama of this
book, and very close to the original story, though the end is a
little different. It some ways the revised ending is better, since
the book seems to end a little too fast (this does seem to be common
in A.L.O.E.'s books.) While I do enjoy the dramatized version of
this story, discretion is required when letting young children listen
to audio dramas, as it is easy to spoil their appetites for just the
plain reading of the book. And the other issue with dramas is they
are just that- drama. They can simply be too exciting for young
children, so use wisdom when allowing them to listen to them.
A
bored schoolboy and
his little sister go
to live with their uncle in a gloomy old house when they receive news
that their father has died on his way home from India.
They
become friends with a
young Jewish boy who is searching for truth, but
then the three
are brought face-to-face with death when they are trapped underground
in an old mine, and no one has the slightest idea where they are. Of
the three, only Phemie, apparently the weakest member of the party,
knows what it is to have eternal life. Asahel has been searching for
years to understand the meaning, and learn the full story connected
with a single page of one of the Gospels, and thinks he may be able
to find out from Arthur, but the English boy didn't care for
“religion” other than going to church on Sundays because that was
the proper thing to do. It
rests with Phemie to explain the Gospel to both her brother and his
friend, and in the short space of time remaining to them, the two
boys go through a great soul-searching and sincerely repent and trust
Christ. Meanwhile, the uncle
of Arthur and Phemie, and Asahel's grandfather, are frantically
searching for them above ground, but
come to the conclusion that they have drowned, and abandon the search
in despair.
Then,
when all seems lost, a stranger arrives in the quiet village, and
hearing the story of the lost children, sets to work to find them.
The end is surprising, as the children find more than one treasure in
that old deserted mine!
A.L.O.E. wrote many other books and short stories,
including:
The Giant-Kiler, or The Battle Which All Must Fight (Great for young and old, a story within a story. The above link will take you to my review of this book and it's sequel, The Roby Family, or Battling with the World.)
And many others that I haven't yet read! May the Lord
use these books to bless and encourage you as they have me!
Phillipians
4:8
“Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Thank you for taking the time to share about this exceptional lady. I think I may have picked up one of her books somewhere a long while ago, but now you've added her writing to the ever growing list I desire to read! =)
ReplyDeleteI so appreciate your desire to honour our Lord in every aspect of life, Layna dear! <3
Hugs,
Charity
These sound like such wonderful books... I simply love the Robber's Cave {though I haven't been able to read it, I've listened to Lamplighter's Radio drama of it...} There's so many beautiful reads just waiting to be found, and now I know of a few more tho add to my list!
ReplyDelete*hugs*
Shannon