Sergei Kourdakov (1951–1973)

Whew! What a story. I wasn’t sure, when I first picked it up, if I’d find it interesting enough to get through (my impression of books like this is that they tend to be fairly dry), but it was surprisingly well-written and engaging. But what a difficult story! I wanted to cry over the different situations described here, and the horrors of the brutality inflicted on people were almost too much at times. Knowing the end of the story before I started helped, though, and it was amazing to see how God worked in Sergei’s life to turn him around.

If you enjoy stories that challenge and encourage you, I’d highly recommend this book to all adults who enjoy reading about how God works in different people’s lives. This isn’t necessarily an easy one to read, but it has given me a desire to pray for the persecutors of Christians as well as the persecuted, and I appreciate that. Written with honesty and courage, this is a book that will stick with me for a long time.… (mer)