Other People's Country by Maureen Helen (9780733322716)
Other People's Country by Maureen Helen (9780733322716)
Other People's Country (Book)
Maureen Helen Release Date: April 2008 Format: Paperback Pages: 256 ISBN: 9780733322716
A compelling account of one suburban grandmother's experience as a remote area nurse in an isolated Aboriginal community in Western Australia.
When comfortable housewife and mother of six adult children, Maureen Helen reached her late fifties, she decided she wanted to do something a little different.
Spurred on by an adventure in Thailand, she decides to use her rusty skills to become a RAN: a remote area nurse, in an isolated Aboriginal settlement in WA's Pilbara region.
Faced with the terrible health problems of the community, inadequate equipment and a growing sense that she doesn't belong, Maureen battles her own crisis of confidence as well as the harshness and hostility of her environment.
Other People's Country is an elegantly written examination of the unexpected consequences of one woman's wish to do good. This finely judged piece of writing offers penetrating insights into the cultural clash between Aboriginal and white Australia, as well as taking a cool look at the narrator's own moral compass when faced with a demanding and hostile environment.
About Maureen Helen
Maureen Helen is adjunct lecturer in the Centre for Social Research at Edith Cowan University, consults for several non-government agencies and is secretary of the Catholic Social Justice Council, Perth. She has published short stories, book reviews and numerous articles, including travel pieces and poetry. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy (Writing) degree after she retired from the full-time, paid workforce on her sixty-fifth birthday. Other People's Country is her first book.
