7 Women and the Secret of Their Greatness by Eric Metaxas

This excellent book chronicles the lives and influence of seven great women. While I had heard of five (Joan of Arc, Susanna Wesley, Corrie ten Boom, Rosa Parks, and Mother Teresa), the life stories of most were not known to me. I was not familiar with Hannah More or Saint Maria of Paris. Metaxas effectively narrates the early years of all the subjects and then articulates how their lives affected others, from their families to wider circles and then finally to history itself. The accounts are fascinating and thought provoking. It is a book you could pick up agian and again to remind yourself of the importance of faithfulness in things large and small. The introduction itself was intriguing, where the author talks about his choice of subjects. As he considered suggestions, he said, “What struck me as wrong about these suggestions was that they presumed women should somehow be compared to men. But it seemed wrong to view great women in that way. The great men in Seven Men were not measured against women, so why should the women in Seven Women be measured against men? I wondered what was behind this way of seeing things, that women should be defined against men? Or that men and women should even be compared to each other?” It is this honesty and thoughtfulness that flavors this outstanding book, which I highly recommend. I received this book for free in exchange for my unbiased reviewed through the Thomas Nelson BookSneeze Program.