Book Description

Reissue of bestselling biography. Published by Bridget Williams Books. This beautifully written story of a radical nun who founded a religious congretation sold thousands of copies when it won the Book of the Year award in the 1997 Montana Book Awards. Suzanne Aubert grew up in a French provincial family in the mid-nineteenth century. Lyon's Catholic missionary spirit brought her to live with Maori girls in war-anxious 1860s Auckland. She nursed Maori and Pakeha in Hawke's Bay as the settler population swelled. Later, living up the Whanganui River at Jerusalem, she set up New Zealand's home-grown Catholic congregation, published a significant Maori text, broke in a hill farm, manufactured medicines, and gathered babies and children through the family-fracturing years of economic depression. The turn of the century sent her windswept skirts through the streets of the capital city. There she would be a constant sign of political commitment and caring for people 'of all creeds and none' until she died in 1926. 'If any New Zealand book has earned the label "long awaited", it is this one... This is a superb book, scrupulously researched...stylishly written, generously illustrated and rewarding to read... Most importantly, it speaks to our times.' - Michael King, 'New Zealand Listener'.