Wounded by a Japanese bullet as she led nearly a hundred refugee children to safety over the mountains of China, Gladys Aylward’s story has been immortalised through the film ‘The Inn of the Sixth Happiness’ (1958). Born in 1902 in the East End of London, this short, stocky woman was undeterred by criticism as she set off to faraway China where she believed she was called to serve God. When she died in 1970 she was a Chinese citizen and had been the means of help and hope to thousands of Chinese children and women. This biography tells her story, incorporating original material and digging beneath the surface into some of the controversies that surrounded her life and work. It is an inspiriting record of human bravery and God’s sustaining power against all the odds. Carol Purves lives in North England. She is a freelance writer and former teacher.