Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give in - Paperback

They Could Have Given In. They Chose Not To.

There is a kind of faith that costs nothing. And there is a kind of faith that costs everything.

The ten women in this book paid the highest price. They lived in different centuries, on different continents, under different empires and regimes — but each one faced the same ultimatum: give up your faith, or face the consequences. Some were tortured. Some were burned. Some were drowned. Some were killed. None of them gave in.

Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In is part of the internationally bestselling Lightkeepers series, and it is perhaps the most sobering and stirring volume in the collection. These are not comfortable stories. They are stories of blood and fire, of prison cells and courtrooms, of quiet courage and shining faith. They will break your heart and strengthen it at the same time.

In a world where we give in too easily — to pressure, to comfort, to the path of least resistance — these ten women stand as a challenge and an inspiration to every reader. They chose eternal life, love, and joy through obedience, hardship, and life-threatening — and life-taking — danger.

Would you give in? Or would you resist?

Meet the Ten Girls

Blandina — Martyr of Lyon, 2nd Century Blandina was a young slave girl in Lyon, Gaul, living in a time when Christians were hunted, arrested, and killed for sport in the arena. Her fellow believers feared she might be too weak to withstand torture. She proved them wrong. Blandina endured prolonged suffering with extraordinary courage, reportedly strengthening the faith of all who witnessed her, and died confessing Christ. Her story is among the earliest and most moving accounts of Christian martyrdom ever recorded.

Perpetua — Martyr of Carthage, 3rd Century Vibia Perpetua was a young noblewoman in Carthage, North Africa, a new Christian with an infant son and a father who begged her to renounce her faith. She refused. She was imprisoned, separated from her baby, and ultimately executed in the arena. Before her death, Perpetua kept a prison diary that has survived to this day — one of the earliest Christian writings by a woman — bearing witness to her peace, her visions, and her unshakeable trust in God.

Anne Askew — Martyr of England, 16th Century Anne Askew was a noblewoman and early Protestant reformer in the court of King Henry VIII. She refused to accept the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and was arrested, interrogated, and tortured on the rack — the only recorded case of a woman being tortured in the Tower of London. Even on the rack, she would not name her fellow believers or renounce her faith. She was burned at the stake in 1546, carried to the place of execution because her bones had been broken by torture. Her courage helped shape the English Reformation.

Lysken Dirks — Martyr of the Netherlands, 16th Century Lysken Dirks was a young Anabaptist woman in the Netherlands who, along with her husband Jerome, was arrested for her faith during the brutal persecution of Anabaptist believers. Separated from her husband and eventually from her infant child, she wrote letters from prison that overflow with faith, peace, and longing for Christ. She was executed by drowning in 1554, singing hymns as she was led to her death.

Lady Jane Grey — Queen of England for Nine Days, 16th Century Lady Jane Grey was a teenager when she was placed on the throne of England against her will — and removed just nine days later. What followed was imprisonment in the Tower of London and, eventually, her execution at the age of sixteen. Through it all, Jane’s Protestant faith remained unshaken. She refused to convert to Catholicism to save her life, went to her death with remarkable composure, and left behind writings that display a depth of faith and scholarship remarkable for any age, let alone for a teenager facing the block.

Marion Harvey — Covenanter, Scotland, 17th Century Marion Harvey was a young Scottish woman who was counted among the Covenanters — those who refused to accept King Charles II’s imposition of bishops over the Presbyterian church of Scotland. Arrested for attending illegal open-air worship services known as conventicles, she was imprisoned and eventually drowned for her faith. Her story is part of the wider Covenanting movement that shaped the spiritual history of Scotland, a movement built on the conviction that Christ — not any king — is the head of His church.

Margaret Wilson — Covenanter, Scotland, 17th Century Margaret Wilson was just eighteen years old when she was tied to a stake in the Solway Firth and drowned for refusing to swear an oath acknowledging the king as head of the church. Known as “the Solway Martyr,” she remained steadfast to the end, reportedly reciting the eighth chapter of Romans as the tide rose around her. An elderly woman was drowned alongside her. Margaret’s youth, her courage, and the cruelty of her death have made her one of the most remembered figures of the Scottish Covenanting era.

Judith Weinberg — Holocaust Martyr, 20th Century Judith Weinberg was a young Jewish woman who came to faith in Jesus as Messiah and paid a double price — rejected by some in her own community for her faith in Christ, and then caught in the Holocaust’s murderous sweep of Jewish people across Europe. Her story stands at the intersection of Jewish identity and Christian faith, and raises profound questions about suffering, faithfulness, and what it means to hold on to hope in the darkest of times.

Betty Stam — Missionary Martyr in China, 20th Century Betty Stam and her husband John were young missionaries with the China Inland Mission when they were captured by Communist soldiers in 1934. They were marched through the streets and beheaded. Their infant daughter was found alive the next day, hidden by a Chinese Christian under a blanket. Betty’s letters and poetry, written before her death, speak of a woman wholly committed to Christ and fully aware of the risks — who chose to stay anyway. Her story has inspired generations of missionaries.

Esther John — Martyr in Pakistan, 20th Century Esther John was born Qamar Zia, a Muslim woman in Pakistan who came to faith in Jesus Christ after reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. She fled her home to avoid a forced marriage and devoted her life to working among poor women in rural Pakistan — teaching, nursing, and sharing the gospel. She was found murdered in her home in 1960. Her exact killer was never identified. Esther John is among the ten martyrs commemorated in the statues above the west door of Westminster Abbey in London — a permanent testimony to faith that costs everything.

Key Themes Explored in This Book

Courage Over Comfort Every woman in this book had an easier path available to her. Every one of them turned it down. Their stories are a searching challenge to a generation taught to prioritise comfort, convenience, and self-preservation above all else.

Faith That Endures Suffering These are not stories of faith that made life easier. They are stories of faith that made life worth losing. Readers will encounter a vision of Christianity that is deeper, costlier, and more glorious than anything the world can offer.

The Price of Conviction From the Roman arenas of the second century to the killing fields of twentieth-century Pakistan and China, these women paid for their convictions. Their stories ask every reader: what do you actually believe, and what would you be willing to pay for it?

Women Across History and Nations This book spans nearly two thousand years of church history, touching Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It shows children that the persecuted church is not a distant or historical phenomenon — it is alive, it is global, and it is part of the same family of faith they belong to.

The Communion of Saints Reading these stories is an act of remembrance. These women are part of the great cloud of witnesses the book of Hebrews describes — and their testimony still speaks.

What Readers Will Learn

• That Christians have faced persecution for their faith in every century, on every continent
• The true stories of ten women martyrs from the 2nd century to the 20th, spanning Rome, England, Scotland, the Netherlands, China, and Pakistan
• What it looks like to hold fast to faith under the most extreme pressure imaginable
• The history of the English Reformation, the Scottish Covenanting movement, and 20th-century missionary work through the lives of real women
• That courage is not the absence of fear — it is faithfulness in the presence of it
• The cost of Christian conviction, and the glory of a faith that cannot be extinguished
• That the persecuted church is not a history lesson — it is a present reality, and these women are our sisters

Who Should Read This Book

This book is a powerful gift and resource for:

• Girls aged 10 and above — the content is more sobering than other Lightkeepers volumes and is best suited for slightly older or more mature readers
• Parents wanting to give children a honest, age-appropriate picture of Christian history and the cost of faith
• Youth group leaders and Sunday school teachers exploring church history, persecution, and Christian identity
• Christian school teachers and homeschool families building a foundation of church history and biblical courage
• Adults — this volume is as moving and challenging for grown readers as for children
• Anyone wanting to understand what Christians around the world still face today, and to be inspired by those who have gone before

About the Author

Irene Howat is an award-winning Scottish author and biographer, widely recognised as one of the most gifted writers of Christian biography for children. She is a principal contributor to the internationally bestselling Lightkeepers series, published by Christian Focus Publications, which has introduced hundreds of thousands of children worldwide to the Christian faith through the lives of real men and women of courage and conviction. Her writing is accessible, historically grounded, and deeply respectful of the lives she chronicles.

Series Information: Lightkeepers

Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In is part of the internationally bestselling Lightkeepers series, published by Christian Focus Publications.

Other titles in the Lightkeepers girls’ series include:

• Ten Girls Who Changed the World
• Ten Girls Who Used Their Talents
• Ten Girls Who Made a Difference
• Ten Girls Who Made History

Companion boys’ series titles include:

• Ten Boys Who Didn’t Give In
• Ten Boys Who Changed the World
• Ten Boys Who Used Their Talents

The boys’ and girls’ Didn’t Give In volumes make a particularly powerful paired gift. Each book in the series stands alone and can be read in any order.