Ever wonder what the “S” in Pearl S. Buck stands for? Sydenstricker, that’s what. I never would have guessed that one. But sure enough, Pearl Comfort Sydenstricker was born in 1892 in West Virginia. Her parents were missionaries for the Southern Presbyterian church and worked extensively in China. Three months after Pearl was born, her parents returned to the Orient, where Pearl would spend much of her life until she was forty years old. She learned Chinese simultaneously with English as a child, being taught at home by her mother and by a Chinese tutor. During the Boxer uprising, she … Continue reading →