A new generation of readers will be introduced to Corrie Ten Boom with the book The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis.
The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis is a biography of Corrie Ten Boom published in 2023.
I debated about sharing this book for Sunday Reading. It is about a Christian, but it isn’t really a Christian book.
It is written by an author who writes about history. He isn’t an author of Christian books.
It is also not published by a Christian publisher.
However, it is a book about a well-known Christian, so I decided it would make a good Sunday Reading book.
Larry Loftis takes the story and information about Corrie Ten Boom beyond what is just in The Hiding Place and combines it into a biography well worth reading.
If you are not familiar with Corrie Ten Boom, she was a Dutch watchmaker who, along with her family, helped save hundreds of Jews from the Nazis during WWII.
Their house became a hiding place for many, and their efforts in other ways saved many others.
It is believed that her family saved nearly eight hundred lives during the war.
In the end, though, Corrie and her family were arrested. Corrie’s survived, but her father and sister did not.
After her release, Corrie worked to help others who had survived the war and began speaking about God’s love and forgiveness.
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom is one of the best-known autobiographies or memoirs of WWII.
Published in 1971, The Hiding Place shared Corrie’s amazing story of risking her life to help Jews during the war and how she survived the concentration camp. While sharing her story, she also shares about God, forgiveness, and love.
The Hiding Place is one of the few books I have read multiple times. It is one of those books I think you can benefit from reading every five to ten years.
I know Corrie Ten Boom’s story well, but I only know about her from reading her writing. I have not read anything else about her, so when I saw a biography about her by Larry Loftis, I knew that I wanted to read it.
Larry Loftis is the bestselling author of The Princess Spy, Code Name: Lise, and Into the Lion’s Mouth. He puts a lot of work and research into his narrative nonfiction writing, so I thought he would do a good job writing about Corrie Ten Boom.
He did a great job!
The Watchmaker’s Daughter by Larry Loftis is a well-written, well-researched biography of Corrie Ten Boom.
An autobiography or memoir is written by someone who lived through the event. It is a first-hand account of what happened. There is something unique about reading the story from the person who lived it.
There are also advantages to reading a story written by someone else, especially when it is written years after the original person.
I wrote about this when I reviewed Becoming Elisabeth Elliot and Being Elisabeth Elliot by Ellen Vaughn.
I read many books by Elisabeth Elliotl. I know her story and writing well, but you get a different perspective when someone else writes her life. Another person can look at it with a broader lens.
When someone else shares it, the story becomes less personal and takes on a different tone, giving you a different view.
Another person can also consider all that has happened since then, research it, and share the details and facts, especially if it is years later.
That is the case with The Watchmaker’s Daughter. Larry Loftis was able to add historical facts and details to the story that Corrie either didn’t know or didn’t share.
Now, eighty years later, we know a lot more about the details of WWII and the concentration camps.
More details about the war are now available. More stories have been told, and more history has been researched.
Larry Loftis shares many of those facts and details, then takes a step back to share the story.
For example, I love how he shared some facts about Audrey Hepburn during WWII because it was the same time frame as Corrie Ten Boom. It made me want to pick up the book Dutch Girl, which shares the story of Audrey Hepburn and WWII.
I also think The Watchmaker’s Daughter modernizes Corrie Ten Boom’s story. It doesn’t change it. It just makes it more readable for today.
Many people don’t want to read a book written fifty years ago, but they will read a newer release.
The Watchmaker’s Daughter is an excellent way for a whole new generation to get to know an amazing person in history through a book written for today.
There is a place for both an autobiography or memoir and a biography. It can be beneficial to read both.
Corrie Ten Boom is an example of that.
If you have not read The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, I highly recommend it. But I also highly recommend The Watchmaker’s Daughter.
In my opinion, there is a place for both.
Are you familiar with the story of Corrie Ten Boom?
I didn’t ever plan to read this since I’ve already read The Hiding Place but now I’m pretty excited about it!
I am familiar with Corrie Ten Boom and read The Hiding Place years ago…can’t wait to read The Watchmaker’s Daughter. Thank you!
I hope that you enjoy it!