author
Mildred Cable
1878–1952
Best known for crossing remote caravan routes in China and Central Asia, this British missionary wrote vivid books shaped by endurance, faith, and a taste for difficult journeys. Her life was closely intertwined with those of Evangeline and Francesca French, forming a trio remembered for work in the Gobi Desert and beyond.
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About the author
Born in Guildford, England, in 1878, Alice Mildred Cable became a British Protestant missionary with the China Inland Mission. She is most often remembered as one of a close-knit trio with Evangeline and Francesca French, women who worked together for many years in China and later became known for traveling and ministering along the caravan routes of northwestern China and Central Asia.
After earlier work in more settled mission settings, Cable and the French sisters took on far more demanding journeys through the Gobi region and oasis towns, carrying Christian literature and meeting travelers and local communities in places that were little known to most British readers of the time. Those experiences fed into the books she wrote, which helped introduce many readers to the landscapes and daily life of inland China and the desert frontier.
Cable died in 1952. Today she is remembered not only for missionary work, but also for the unusual courage and stamina behind those long overland expeditions, and for the travel writing that grew out of them.