By Sara Ashencaen Crabtree<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This volume draws on a trove of unpublished original material from the pre-1940s to the present to offer a unique historiographic study of twentieth century Methodist missionary work and women\u2019s active expression of faith practised at the critical confluence of historical and global changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study focuses on two English Methodist missionary nursing sisters and siblings, Audrey and Muriel Chalkely, whose words and experiences are captured in detail, foregrounding tumultuous socio-political changes of the end of Empire and post-Independence in twentieth-century Kenya and South India. The work presents a timely revision to prevailing post-colonial critiques in placing the fundamental importance of human relationships centre stage. Offering a detailed (auto)biographical and reflective narrative, this \u2018herstory\u2019 pivots on three main thematic strands relating to people<\/em>, place<\/em> and passion<\/em>, where socio-cultural details are vividly explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book will appeal to a wide range of readers, both the interested public and the academic alike, where a lively, entertaining, literary style introduces readers to the politics of women\u2019s lives, and principle and professional service foreground ethno-class-caste oppression, emancipation, conflict, commitments and religious tensions. It reveals the human, vulnerable qualities of these women, illuminating their stories and courageous choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n