Noted historian and educator Jil Ker Conway spent her early years on a sheep farm in New South Wales Australia. After a startling tragedy, she moved with her family to Sydney where she eventually studied at the prestigious University of Sydney. At 25, she left Australia to study at Harvard in the United States. In this autobiography, she tells of moving out from childhood and girlhood to a freer life of the mind in America. Ker Conway was the first female president of Smith College, a respected woman's liberal arts college in Massachusetts. This book was first published in 1989 after she left Smith for other opportunities in elite American academia.

I found this at a library book sale in the Atlanta area a few years ago. I have been meaning to read it since but with many other books on my agenda I am not sure when that will be. I don't want to let this one languish. I love the picture of the intelligent little girl on the beautifully designed cover too much. So I am glad to grant a bookcrossing wish. Part of loving is letting go. As we say in bookcrossing: love a book, let it go!

I really look forward to reading this. Thanks so much for thinking of me!

Thanks for sharing this book with me. "Conway spent her first 11 years in the windswept grasslands of Australia, where her father owned 30,000 acres of arid land. Though his ability to understand the land was extensive, an eight-year drought finally defeated him, and he committed suicide. A few years later, Conway's oldest brother died in an automobile accident. The two deaths plunged her mother into depression. Out of this tale of hard work, drought, and sorrow, Conway emerges with character and personal strength. From the University of Sydney, she went on to study history at Harvard and eventually became the first woman president of Smith College. This inspiring book tells in full the details of her life and thoughts up to the time she left for America."

Sending this along to my granddaughter who spent two glorious years in Australia. Enjoy!