Book Review: Mary Jones and Her Bible by Mary Emily Ropes - crazyJCgirl.com

Book Review: Mary Jones and Her Bible


So I was reading a book a couple of months ago, called Mary Jones and Her Bible, a true story retold by author Mary Emily Ropes. This is a story of hope and perseverance.

During what is now known as one of Wales’s most famous revivals, Welsh 15-year-old girl Mary Jones walked 26 miles, from her hometown Llanfihangel-y-Pennant, Abergynolwyn, to Bala, a market town in Gwynedd, Wales. Let me explain something. She traveled 26 miles barefoot to a town where it could possibly have no Bibles for sale. She traveled 26 miles because Welsh Bibles were rare -not many people owned the Word of God. For her to travel 26 miles barefoot just for a Bible, she had to really want a Bible, really want to know God. Not many people would be willing to do that.

This book is one of the best I’ve read so far this year. I would recommend this book for 10-years-old and up. People these days need to be aware of how many people still yearn for the Word of God.

More about Mary Jones

The National Library of Wales website has pictures of Mary’s Bible.

Mary’s story led to the formation of the British & Foreign Bible Society in 1804.

Mary “died a blind widow in December 1864, having just reached her eightieth birthday…In her old age, Mary Jones would enjoy telling the tale of her walk to Bala to obtain a Bible. She made good use of the Bible she received from Thomas Charles. She read it from cover to cover four times during her lifetime. She memorised substantial sections of it, which proved of great benefit and comfort to her after she lost her sight. And when she died, the Bible she had bought in Bala over sixty years previously was on the table by her side.” – Excerpt from Cardiff University’s post Bala and the Bible by E. Wyn James.