Title: Steal Away Home: Charles Spurgeon and Thomas Johnson, Unlikely Friends on the Passage to Freedom
Author(s): Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey
Published by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee
Year: 2017
Pages: 272
Format Read: Kindle
Language: English
ISBN: 978-1-4336-9065-5
I enjoyed reading this! In the introduction, the authors discuss their inspiration and research. They explain that the book has a high degree of historical accuracy with some liberties taken where necessary to fill in the blanks. This is a very moving Christian historical fiction novel.
The book begins with the two main characters’ youthful days in the 1840s and progresses through to their mid to later life in the early 1890s. Growing up in England, Spurgeon has a loving and devout Christian family. However, at times, he struggles with depression and unwanted sinful thoughts. Johnson grows up as a slave on a plantation in Richmond, Virginia. He is separated from his family at an early age, and he deals with mistreatment. The book describes how they find Jesus who helps them overcome issues in life. Throughout the novel, God mightily puts people around them to encourage their spiritual growth and comfort them during struggles. The authors alternate back and forth conveying both characters’ progression and key events in their life, how they meet, and their perceptions. The authors are able to convey God’s sovereignty and faithfulness. Spiritual warfare in a believer’s life is clearly demonstrated.
I only knew that Spurgeon was a famous British preacher and that a lot of evangelicals in the USA admired his life and sermons. One of the many things that this book displays is how he is aware of the social ills in society (Victorian era) and the actions he takes to help downtrodden, poor people. A key event that is discussed is the tragedy at Surrey Hill which I have heard of or read about in a Christian publication.
I had never heard of Thomas Johnson until I picked up this novel. He is super interesting as well. The writers express how he is tormented by fear, grief, loneliness as a slave and how he hates being in bondage; however he hears the gospel when his friend is secretly preaching in a cabin one night. Although Thomas still wants to be freed from slavery, he finds peace and comfort in Jesus. His thoughts are no longer full of hatred. I didn’t realize that “Steal Away” is a real hymn. The slaves whisper sing this the night that Thomas visits that cabin and hears the gospel. Later on, he sings this with the Spurgeons.
Spurgeon constantly preaches against slavery. An intriguing event that this novel covers is how Spurgeon’s writings were burned in book burnings in the American South due to his strong abolitionist stance. Johnson first hears of Spurgeon from his plantation owner and a Baptist preacher angrily discussing him and making Johnson drive them to one of the book burnings. This was fascinating to read in the novel, and I looked up this information later online.
After Johnson’s emancipation after the Civil War, the historical novel discusses how he meets his wife Henrietta, that he becomes a pastor, and has a desire to improve in his knowledge of the Word in order to take the gospel to his homeland Africa. He befriends a British businessman who makes a way for him and his wife to go to England and study at the college that Spurgeon established.
Thomas and Henrietta finally get to meet Charles and Susannah in the Spurgeon home, and they are able to fellowship together; they become friends. Henrietta and Thomas are finally able to go to a country in Africa, but he returns to the United States and England after she passes. Charles and Susannah deal with bouts of ill health. They continue to encourage each other. Thomas is one of Charles’ friends at his deathbed in France.
Although I liked this novel a lot, I wish that there was more interaction with Spurgeon’s twin boys Charles and Thomas. They are mentioned a few times but there is barely, if any, dialogue or description of them. Anyway, this was a beautifully written Christian historical fiction novel.
Dates Read August 15 to August 28 2021
A good, comprehensive article with more details about Johnson and Spurgeon’s life:
“Let the Dear Man Come”: C. H. Spurgeon’s Influence on Thomas Lewis Johnson (1836–1921), a Freed Slave, Former Student and Forgotten Missionary
A Love So Wordy 