Independent Review

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY
Menno Simons Historical Library

July 30, 2003

Thank you very much for your letter and the review copy of I Heard My People Cry by Elizabeth Lenci-Downs. We are delighted to add this important book to our library and sincerely appreciate your generosity.

Elizabeth's book is a wonderful record of moving, significant experiences of persecuted but courageous persons. It is one more account of a Mennonite family's escape from Stalin's Russia during a time of great hardship. A story rich with human pathos, this compelling book reads like a novel and is very hard to put down.

I Heard My People Cry is well organized, providing good historical background and context. The fine collection of varied photographs, the glossary and the appendix add much to the interest and usefulness of the volume. The front cover has a scene that arrests the reader's attention.

I am truly impressed by this book. Elizabeth Lenci-Downs is to be congratulated on an outstanding piece of work.

Again, thank you for your gift. Best wishes. Sincerely yours,

Lois B. Bowman
Librarian
MENNO SIMONS HISTORICAL LIBRARY
Harrisonburg
VA 22802-2462