Emily on the Golden Shore

Marie Conyers McKay. New York: Strategic Book Publishing, 2009. 144 pp. (Hardback).

Marie Conyers McKay became intrigued with Emily Chubbuck Judson upon coming across a book of poetry the young author had written over 150 years ago. McKay is a librarian who was formerly an overseas missionary, so a little-known book written by a pioneer missionary was like a magnet.

Her interest was piqued by this young woman who had been a rising star in American literary circles, yet left all to marry a man old enough to be her father and to go with him half a world away to a totally foreign culture. McKay began researching the life of Judson and from that research wove a novel based on the events of her short but amazing life.

The Judsons impacted American missions in a way unparalleled in the history of Baptists in this country. The story of Emily and Adoniram is very much a love story, not only of their love for each other but also their love for and commitment to the people of Burma. It was actually the magic pen — the genius of Emily Judson — that preserved for history the essence of that remarkable man, America’s first missionary, Adoniram Judson.

Those who love missions and like to read can find a glimpse of the heart of one of our earliest missionary wives in “Emily on the Golden Shore.”