A poignant story written with passion but the poems were a distraction to my enjoyment of the book ( )

Betty Williams, now in her eighties, has spent her life as a teacher: to her children, and to her students.

Written, at least at the beginning of the book, in the form of a letter to her mother (hence, the title) this memoir follows the author from her childhood to the present day, although not always in a straight line. The memories tend to meander and are maddeningly vague in many areas to which she makes allusions.

Ms Williams has had a rich and busy life. Unfortunately, the story is not well-told. Sorry, Betty.

Read this if: you are related to Betty or know her well; or if you are really keen on knowing about South American missionary work. 1½ stars ( )

Reading this autobiography of a dedicated Christian woman felt like sitting in my grandmother's living room and listening to her tell stories of her life. Not that my grandmother would have stories like these! Betty Williams grew up during the Depression, served as a long-suffering missionary's wife in Brazil, and raised a number of biological, adopted, and foster children, all while facing the sorts of challenges and set-backs that might have caused someone else to lose their faith. The homespun, somewhat rambling style of the book made it feel like reading a long letter from an elderly relative. Many times I would have liked additional information about certain events that the author preferred to gloss over, particularly in regard to her relationship with her daughters later in her life when she started her second family.

The hardest part of the book for me was how the author's faith never seemed shaken regardless of the number of disappointments and tragedies she faced. In fact, she continued to see the benevolent hand of God in her life even when people close to her died and she was personally betrayed. This was difficult for me to understand. It was sometimes frustrating that the author continued to be devoted to a spiritual community that seemed full of hypocrisy. She certainly possessed a powerful fortitude to be able to keep teaching, serving, and living life to the fullest despite the rough path of her life. ( )

This book was a pleasant look at the life of Betty Williams and her life long service to human kind. She served others as a daughter, wife, mother, missionary, foster parent, and teacher. She has included a collection of her memories and shared them. As an auto-biography this is an interesting piece, however, if you only read fiction you may find the writing style a bit frustrating and a better help with editing could have helped in this aspect. There are a great number of amazing stories of miracles that Betty was blessed to witness and experience and I'm grateful she took the time to share her lifes stories with all of us. ( )

Wow, what an interesting life Betty Williams is having. Her autobiography is written in a chatty style which flows most of the time. Her honest account of the good and bad times in her life left me wanting some more details at times! The prose in interspersed with poems, mostly written by the author which offered a nice change of pace to the story. Thank you Ms Williams for generously sharing yourself to provide an interesting read.