This a biography of a well known missionary whose husband (and friends) were killed by the very people they were trying to minister to. The biography picks up when she eventually comes home from the mission field after ministering to them herself.

Given that I didn't know a lot about Elizabeth Elliot other than the story about her husband and ministry after his death, I do wish I had read up on that era of her life beforehand. I didn't have any knowledge of her books and life after the mission field. If I had, I feel that this book would have been more enjoyable as I could have seen the bigger picture.

This was not light reading but does show Elizabeth Elliot's character. It seems to be well researched and people who enjoy biographies of strong Christian women will enjoy this book.

I receive complimentary books for various sources including, Netgalley, Authors, and other such sources. I am not required to write a positive review and have not received compensation.

Honestly, the reason I gave this book only 3 stars is not the author's style of writing. It's just that the story of Elizabeth Elliot is pretty depressing! I didn't know much about Elizabeth going into this book, except that her husband was martyred and she wrote some popular books in the 80s... The sad thing is that most of her life was kind of a bummer! Seems like her personality was not very friendly either. Wow! Sad.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of this book. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Most people who know about Elisabeth Elliot know about the suffering in the first half of her life, the death of her husband that propelled them both to fame in evangelical circles. And then many know that Elisabeth did a lot of speaking and writing later, maybe that she was married again twice. But it's easy to look at the first part of her life (told in Becoming Elisabeth Elliot) and think that must have been the hardest part.

It seems that is far from the case. Being Elisabeth Elliot was in parts much heavier than I had expected. Part of this is because Elisabeth journaled so much, so we get to really see what she felt and thought when she went through trials. Some of it is also because of the suffering she endured. Part of it is also because Elisabeth was human, which means some of the things she said or did were mistakes that confirm she was far from perfect!

Vaughn does a stellar job with showing the real, human Elisabeth graciously, much as Elisabeth Elliot in her biography of Amy Carmichael. The biography was also surprising at times, as I think some gets assumed about Elliot's theology or other views that may not actually be true. Other things are, and in both life and journal, Being Elisabeth Elliot shows how that affected her life.

The book felt long at times, was a little choppy sometimes in the strings of journal entries, and I think a lso due to drawing so much from journals, the big picture was sometimes lost for the details. The ending was also fairly abrupt. But overall, it was well-written and clear.

There is much I respect and identify with in Elisabeth, from personality to frustration with tidy evangelicalism. I wish she hadn't had to suffer so much. Yet she also had many joys and much fruitfulness, and a lot to emulate from her strengths and learn from her weaknesses.