Foreign Translations

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Translations.
Manly of Edwin and Lillian Harvey’s books have been translated into Romanian, Russian, and now Spanish. Over the years,several have also been translated into French, Polish and the Czech language. In visiting both Russia and Romania, I observed that often much was “lost in translation.” The manuscripts were checked and rechecked but rarely by someone whose native language was English. As many of our books contained quotations from writers of past centuries, I realized that if I were to check the translations of our books before publication, I might help preserve the original meaning. This meant, of course, knowing the foreign language reasonably well.


Over the years, I have spent hours looking over translations and find it very rewarding when I can work side by side with the translator to produce a book which is not only an easy-to-read translation, but preserves both the meaning and spirit of the original text. Sometimes I have aggravated the translators by comments and acknowledge that perhaps at times I was over-particular but generally it has been appreciated that I take the time to do this. Some of the best translators are the easiest to work with and are eager to learn more of our English idioms in the process while I have profited immensely from reading our books in a foreign language.
These translations are available on Harvey Christian Publishers’ website and in their online Christian Bookstore.
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Asking Father, Edwin and Lillian Harvey

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Asking Father
We all lose things, especially as we get older. Children, too, not only lose things but are often inconsolable when they do. And then, to be accused of stealing the lost item, that is misery upon misery! In “Asking Father,” written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, there is a story of just such a situation and how, through the prayer of faith uttered by a little girl the whole situation was turned around.
“Asking Father” is full of practical examples of how prayer changed things. Written for children, these stories inspire hope and trust in a God Who knows every detail of our lives. We live in a day when our faith needs renewal. Many Sunday School teachers as well as parents, have used this book to teach lessons in prayer. It is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

Isn’t “No” an answer?, Asking Father

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We all want quick answers to our prayers but I think most of us realize pretty early on in our Christian walk that God works to a different “time-clock” than we do. For me, at least, it is much harder to accept the fact that sometimes His answers actually seem to spell “No” to our requests and that is a bitter pill to swallow.
In “Asking Father” written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, there is a story entitled Isn’t “No” an answer? This tells of how Amy Carmichael, the now famous missionary and writer, asked God when a child to have her brown eyes replaced by blue. To her dismay, she awoke the next morning to find that her Father had not answered her prayer. She was to be stuck with brown eyes for the rest of her life. However, she also discovered that, had God answered her request, she would not have been able to rescue the temple children for blue eyes would have given her away immediately.
Read more about Amy in “Asking Father,” published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

The Velvet Curtain by Trudy Harvey Tait

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Are the characters in your novel, “The Velvet Curtain” people you have actually known? This is a question I get asked fairly frequently and I suppose,like many writers, I would have to answer “Yes” and “No.” The two sisters, Esther and Gabby were originally based on two Romanian girls I had come to know pretty well, but as “The Velvet Curtain” progressed, Esther became less and less like the original girl I had in mind. Gabby, on the other hand, stayed pretty true to form although she did a great many things that the real “Gabby” (that was not her name, of course) never did. But in character, the fictional and the real greatly resembled one another.


The other characters resembled “types” of people I had known. Larry, in “Behind the Velvet Curtain,” the second in “The Velvet Curtain Series,” was the most difficult of all my characters to make come alive. My family told me that I caricatured him because he lived in a totally different world from the one in which I had been brought up and so I could not enter into his mindset as I had for most of the other characters. Well, I tried to do just that and found it almost impossible. Ramona, also, posed somewhat of the same problem. I trust, however, that due to good advice and a lot of hard work and prayer, each character does come to life.
“The Velvet Curtain Series,” is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and is available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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The Call Back Series by Edwin and Lillian Harvey

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I can remember when my parents, Edwin and Lillian Harvey, first began “The Call Back Series.” It was at a time when the “Health and Wealth Gospel” was dominating the religious printed press and the media. Everywhere you turned, it seemed you confronted some aspect of this “Gospel.” And not only that. It was not infrequent to come across Christians whose lives had been devastated by this prosperity cult. Why had they not been healed they asked themselves? Why had they been allowed to suffer loneliness and frustration or encountered opposition as they followed the Christ of the Gospels?

If they were true Christians, wouldn’t God prosper them and protect them? Bombarded by the idea that Christians should prosper and overcome all health problems, they would be plunged into despair. Suicidal impulses were not uncommon in some of these sincere saints. They must have sinned, they reasoned, or they would have been healed.
And so Edwin and Lillian decided to research saints of the past and see what testimony they had to tell. Thus the “Call Back Series,” evolved. Many of God’s children had not been miraculously healed, had not been phenomenally prosperous, had not enjoyed unqualified popularity. But they had gained much from their trials and they call back to us today to tell us that if they made it triumphantly to the end of their Christian journey, then we can do.
“The Call Back Series” is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available on their Online Christian Bookstore.

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The Call Back Series

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“The Call Back Series” by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers, has brought blessing to many Christians, who are struggling with an illness, or handicap, or going through some period of depression or loneliness, or perhaps feeling misunderstood by their closest friends. It is not popular, however, with those who feel that a follower of Christ should claim exemption from many of these trials.
There are eight books in this series, covering manly aspects of suffering. Edwin and Lillian researched Christian biography for years and discovered gems from past saints who have left us records of their triumphal albeit often painful journey through pain and suffering to their eternal rest.
This series is now available on Harvey Christian Publishers’ Online Christian Bookstore.

The Call Back Series —Clara Simpson

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Clara Simpson
Very happily married, the poet Clara Simpson was devastated when her husband had an accident which, after much suffering, finally resulted in his death. Her story, recounted in Loneliness, the second book in the “Call Back Series,” and written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, tells of her anguish and how she eventually found relief. She writes:
“Oh, has He planned it right when darkness falls,
And all one’s world which once looked fair and bright
Had faded out of sight and sorrow reigns?
He’s planned it right.” (Loneliness, page 68)

Loneliness is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

The Call Back Series—Loneliness

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Edith Hickman Divall

The glorious triumph and the song—
The gifts of God to me belong.
The place of honor is my right—
Partaker with the saints in light.
Who would not die for such a life?
Who would not dare the present strife,
For such a victory as this—
For such an end of crowning bliss?

They told me only of the cross
Of shame and sorrow, pain and loss.
They told me —and my eyes were dim—
That I must give up all for Him.

O crowning glory of the cross!
O wondrous gain from all my loss!
I come and lo! all things are mine—
Yea!—all things in the life Divine.

All things are mine—not far away,
Hereafter—here and now—today!
On earth I reign in life by One,
Complete, accepted, in God’s Son.
—Edith Hickman Divall.
Used by permission of Pickering and Inglis.

The writer of these words, Edith Hickman Divall, wrote the above poem out of the depth of her own personal experience. The oldest child in a large family, Edith was sent for a short period, to a farm run by two aunts who knew little about raising children and Edith experienced cold, hunger, and other hardships. She was a delicate girl and throughout her life, experienced violent headaches. Her poems later were distributed widely and brought blessing to many. Her story is found in Loneliness, the second book in the “Call Back Series,” and written by Edwin and Lillian Harvey, It is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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The Call Back Series—Loneliness

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Florence Allshorn was an Anglican missionary to Uganda. Orphaned at age three, she was brought up in Sheffield England by her mother’s governess. As an orphan, Florence must have experienced much loneliness throughout her life. In Loneliness, the second book in the “Call Back Series,” the authors, Edwin and Lillian Harvey, tell her story. It seems that, on the mission-field and surrounded by fellow-missionaries, Florence found herself under a senior missionary who proved extremely difficult to live with and caused her to feel isolated and very alone.

She discovered that she was the eighth young missionary who had been sent to this station. None of her predecessors had lasted more than two years. She lost weight rapidly and at only 98 lbs, she was a total wreck both spiritually and physically.
One day, an elderly African lady found Florence in tears. “I have been on this station for fifteen years,” she told the weeping missionary, “and I have seen all of you come out saying you have brought to us a Savior, but I have never seen the situation saved yet.” These words brought Florence to her senses and, in the end, after reading 1 Corinthians 13 daily for one year, the situation was saved.
Read more of this brave young woman in Loneliness. It is published by Harvey Christian Publishers and available in their Online Christian Bookstore.

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The Christian’s Daily Challenge

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The Christian’s Daily Challenge.

The Christian’s Daily Challenge is a daily reading book compiled by Edwin and Lillian Harvey and published by Harvey Christian Publishers. It is available in our Online Christian Bookstore and is also able to be downloaded as a free ap. It is now being translated into Romanian. Edwin and Lillian have included many poems in the 365 readings.

In the reading for February 3rd entitled “Heaven’s Bank” is the following poem by an unknown author:

“I have a never-failing bank,
A more than golden store,
No earthly bank is half so rich,
How can I then be poor?

“Sometimes my Banker smiling says:
‘Why don’t you often come?
And when you draw a little note,
Why not a larger sum?

‘Why live so niggardly and poor?
Your bank contains a-plenty;
Why come and take a one-pound note
When you might have a twenty?’

“Because my Banker is so rich,
I have no cause to borrow;
I’ll live upon my cash today,
And draw again tomorrow.”
(The Christian’s Daily Challenge, p. 44)

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