Sisters of Mokama The pioneering women who brought hope and healing to India
Book - 2022
"New York Times editor Jyoti Thottam's mother was part of an extraordinary group of Indian women. Born in 1946, a time when few women dared to leave their house without the protection of a man, she left home by herself at just fifteen years old and traveled to Bihar--an impoverished and isolated state in northern India that had been one of the bloodiest regions of Partition--in order to train to be a nurse under the tutelage of the determined and resourceful Appalachian nuns who ran Nazareth Hospital. Like Thottam's mother's journey, the hospital was a radical undertaking: it was run almost entirely by women, who insisted on giving the highest possible standard of care to everyone who walked through its doors, regardless... of caste or religion. Fascinated by her mother's story, Thottam set out to discover the full story of Nazareth Hospital, which had been established in 1947 by six nuns from Kentucky. With no knowledge of Hindi, and the awareness that they would likely never see their families again, the sisters had traveled to the small town of Mokama determined to live up to the pioneer spirit of their order, founded in the rough hills of the Kentucky frontier. A year later, they opened the doors of the hospital; soon they began taking in young Indian women as nursing students, offering them an opportunity that would change their lives. One of those women, of course, was Thottam's mother."--
- Subjects
- Genres
- Biography
Biographies - Published
-
[New York] :
Viking
[2022]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Physical Description
- xxii, 356 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-356).
- ISBN
- 9780525522355
- The end of a great war
- The mission at Mokama junction
- A plea for help from India
- The moment of freedom
- Aboard the Steel Executive
- "Millions are moving and stirring"
- The opening of Nazareth hospital
- "He is young, energetic and enthusiastic"
- Heartbreak
- The frontier women of Mokama
- The making of a lady doctor
- Women of the new India
- The novices go on strike
- The English-only rule
- Miss Wiss and Dr. Kenny
- The flood
- Arrivals
- Departures.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review