Memoirs of Moving on (Dorothy McRae-McMahon, Jane Curry Publishing, $29.95 tpb, ISBN 1920727094, October) ***

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Dorothy McRae-McMahon is a remarkable woman and her life story is inspirational. A retired minister of the Uniting Church in Australia, she has worked consistently and tirelessly for almost 50 years to effect change in many arenas. Her awards include an Australian government peace award and the Australian Human Rights Medal. A leading force in the women’s, lesbian/gay rights and republican movements, she has also campaigned against racism, the Vietnam War, nuclear weapons and the Marcos regime. Her work has taken her to the Middle East, Asia, Africa and India. Neither personal tragedy nor the endangerment of her own life has deterred her from defending human rights and continuing the fight against injustice. Despite her claim that ‘this is not an autobiography’, and that she has held back some things, she does reveal a great deal about her public and private life. After a 32-year marriage and raising four children, she made the courageous and difficult decision to come out in her personal and professional life as a lesbian. This is the story of a life sustained by the ‘faith, passion and resilience’ mentioned in the book’s subtitle and a life lived with humility, courage and optimism.

Paula Grunseit is from SBS and is a freelance editor and reviewer

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2004, Thorpe-Bowker