by Becky Cerling Powers
Laura Richards was a shy American nurse who moved to a remote North China village in 1929 to take in castaway babies. Through 22 years of famines, bandit invasions, and wars, she lived in the same poor conditions as the Chinese peasants, while managing to save the lives of nearly 200 destitute children.
So why did she refuse the Chinese Communist Party’s offer to make her a national heroine? Laura Richards’ story was too dangerous to tell when she returned to the U.S. in 1951. But when she died thirty years later, the old letters, photographs, and scattered bits of memoir that she left behind were so intriguing to her second cousin Becky Cerling Powers, that Becky began a 25-year quest to discover her quiet relative’s amazing story.
Eventually that quest led Becky to China and the orphans themselves. Today, over half a century after Laura left China, her story and her children’s story can finally be told.
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“Becky Cerling Powers tells the extraordinary story of Laura Richards and the Canaan Home with the meticulousness of a historian and the skill of a master storyteller. A tale of war and revolution, faith and betrayal, Forbidden Orphanage Outside the Forbidden City offers an unflinching yet empathetic account of the missionary experience in China and a unique perspective on a tumultuous period in that country’s modern history.” — Jack Neubauer, author of The Adoption Plan: China and the Remaking of Global Humanitarianism
“Rich with research and firsthand biographical details, Forbidden Orphanage Outside the Forbidden City takes the reader on a journey to the China of 1921-1951. This is the inspiring story of an ordinary woman—but a woman of action, empowered by extraordinary faith, dedication and love.” — Caroline Kurtz, author of A Road Called Down on Both Sides: Growing Up in Ethiopia and America
“[Powers] describes a faith and dedication that inspires awe. And [she] places it all in context so well. How will it be received in the wider world? As an inspiring piece of history? As a challenge to faithfulness and commitment? As a threat? Maybe all of the above. How will it be received in China, or by overseas Chinese believers? I can only imagine. I wonder how the book can be positioned so as to provoke wide readership…” — Bill McConnell, retired assistant to the president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
“I have read countless mission books as a person with high interest in missions worldwide, I have to rate ‘Laura’s Children’ as the top 3 books I have ever read. The story is so engaging, with stories of miraculous protection and provision continuing throughout the whole saga of Laura’s ministry. This is a definite ‘must read’ if mission’s is in your heart. You will be inspired and encouraged to continue to stretch your own faith to fulfill God’s call to reach the world for Him.” — Pastor Mirek Hufton, World Harvest Church, Georgia
“I just devoured the book. It is just lovely, a very artistic book. I had the feeling I was reading a Chinese book. The little pictures on the pages…a million little subtle things. It’s a very artistic book. It just about never happens in the U.S. Everything was so beautifully coordinated.” — Beth McConnell
“Laura's story was amazing and so powerful, but I must say that your story at the end about trying to get all the information together and waiting so long was just as powerful and insightful for me. Your correspondence with Rachel and explaining how Laura's husband was an important part of the book and how the wheat and the weeds need to be together for awhile in order not to destroy the harvest was so valuable to me. Not to mention the obvious message of totally relying on God and trusting Him to provide all our needs…
Also, the fact that you homeschooled your children (as I do my three) and had to keep putting off your desire to work on this book as much as you wanted, yet you still finished it, was such an encouragement to me. After 12 years of homeschooling and 6 years of care giving to my mother-in-law in my home I often wrestle with the desire to follow my interests but know that God has called me to be with my children and that care giving is the right thing to do at this time and I must do this first and trust He will have something wonderful for me when these phases of life is finished.
Thank you for being faithful in writing this book. God has used you to give me much to think on and learn from and draw into a closer relationship with my precious Savior, Jesus Christ. You have greatly encouraged me!” — Roxanne Evans
“I was mesmerized, not wanting to put it down! Thank you so much for not only telling Laura's story but for also fairly describing the historical, political and cultural context of China during those years. I love the way you share the gospel without preaching and that you don't hide the faults and humanity of missionaries” — Sally Mittelstadt
“The Forbidden Orphanage in the Forbidden City is a gripping story of faith in the face of hardship, and courage under dire circumstances. Becky Cerling Powers tells the story of Laura Richardson’s “children” with detail that brings to life the gritty reality of life in China in the famine years, the wars, and the takeover of the regime. Today’s incredibly modern China paints over the generational pain that today’s grandparents carry hidden in their hearts.” — *Anna McShane, global writer and longtime university professor, Beijing *pseudonym
“...has to be one of the best books I've ever read. I put it down a couple times just to 'get my breath' -- was horrified when hubby stole and molested; again when she got burned; again when she was kicked out of Canaan House. But to see God's provision so often--it was breathtaking! The last five or so pages took me a week to read...I did not want the book to end, so would force myself to put it down after reading a page :-) And Becky's story of writing this book was just as intriguing as Laura's story. How I loved Becky's explanation to Rachel (I think it was) about why they needed to include Laura's husband's story in the book also. I want to read it all over again….Oh, and who ever knew all that scary China history? Not I! “ — Cynthia Camle
