Why read this biography of M. B. Eddy?

Those who look for me in person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me instead of find me.
(The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 120:2–4)

In October 1999, the Christian Science Sentinel produced an edition which focussed on the Leader of the Christian Science movement, Mary Baker Eddy.

One of the articles in that edition (October 4, 1999) of the weekly magazine was by Gillian Gill, the author of this month's book club book. She answers a question about the importance of knowing about the life of Mrs. Eddy. Here's an excerpt:

MARY BAKER EDDY'S MESSAGE & HER LIFE PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER  

Excerpts from a Q&A session with biographer Gillian Gill

Gillian Gill

...At the start of my research, I was reading all of the published literature on Mrs. Eddy, much of which is extremely critical, often viciously so. And so I started to see that the most important way in which Christian Science was attacked was through the personality of its Leader.

Her message was being blocked, and I would suggest to you that it is still true, that unless we have a clear perception of what she really was and what she really did, we will constantly be dealing with half perceptions, misperceptions, the "facts" as presented by other people.

Mrs. Eddy's Christian Science was immediately perceived by contemporaries as a challenge to the established order. 

...These early negative presentations of Mrs. Eddy continue to be given currency today. Many people writing books don't do original research but go to already existing biographies, and often use the ones about Mrs. Eddy that are negative. 

...Mrs. Eddy was an original thinker—that had its problems and its pluses—but her lack of classical education could have freed her to do what she did. She says, I'm not formally equipped for this; I'm going to do it anyway. This is the only way I can get my message out, and that's what I need to do. And she does it

I am grateful that this author took the trouble to dig deeper in order to dispel some of the myths about Mary Baker Eddy that have been perpetuated down the decades. It is right that these errors be corrected.

Julie Swannell