*2019 ILLUMINATION AWARD Silver Medal for Best eBookPrison camp, starvation, execution…all threaten her little family. A true wartime drama based on the experience of Dorothy Joy Kinney Chambers M.D. and her family.This sweeping biographical novel brings to life the dramatic experience of a valiant woman who, armed only with the white coat of her profession, found the courage to live her life … coat of her profession, found the courage to live her life on the razor’s edge and survived it. It’s a captivating story of service and sacrifice, of love and the searing emotions that gripped this missionary doctor throughout her imperiled course.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
“A lovely story of an extraordinary woman! The use of contemporary sources adds authenticity to an ordeal that could be overwhelming in its grimness were it not described so vividly and poetically.” —Dorey Schmidt, Ph.D.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dorothy Kinney had found herself in remote India in 1928, a medical missionary charged with building up a hospital for the women and children of Assam. The fledgling doctor began her practice in Gauhati, where her surgeries were performed by the light of a kerosene lamp in an open-air clinic with no electricity, no running water, and no sewer system. She left it ten years later a fully functioning modern hospital, with running water, electricity, and the complete devotion of the people of Assam.
It was there she fell in love.
Pregnant with their second child, Dorothy, her missionary husband Fred Chambers, and their daughter Carol Joy, set out on a voyage that would take them to their new missionary post in Iloilo, on the Philippine island of Panay. One day later War was declared in Europe.
She could not know that by the time her unborn baby turned eighteen months old her little family would be swept into a Japanese internment camp. With four thousand other prisoners of war she struggled to feed her little family in the prison at Santo Tomas, a place where hundreds died and most starved. Had General MacArthur’s bold rescue not liberated them, the entire camp would have been lost.
Many remember Dorothy Chambers in her white coat of courage, doctoring the children of the camp, never knowing that her little family would come within just twenty-four hours of execution.
This is her story.
more
This biographical novel is stunning in its scope. A true story that reads like a bestseller. This amazing woman’s story is clever, poignant, devastating and uplifting.
This book shares the life of a truly remarkable woman who rose above the prejudices of the male medical community in 1926 and served in India for ten years before taking her family to the Philippines where they survived three horrid years in a Japanese prison camp. Her positivity throughout are stunning and the scenes that support the facts of her experience are riveting. This is a sweeping novel that encompasses the emotional scope of a life spent serving…and surviving.
Author Mary Schwaner has captured the extraordinary life of a woman tested in her profession, tested by her choice of practice, and tested in protecting her family under the most difficult of circumstances. The life of Dorothy Kinney Chambers shines through as one of grace and strength. This book, including original journals and letters interspersed with fictional pieces, made for a most readable book, one I could hardly put down.
Courage in a White Coat by Mary Schwaner
This tale of courage under duress is timeless and filled with insight into the life of a woman who dedicated herself to making the lives of others better. With her hands, mind, creativity, love and talent she gave, healed and loved without giving up her dignity.
I found this book fascinating. Why? Because though this story took place eight decades ago it is still relevant. There is history, love, romance, family, war, oppression, derring-do and so much more that is relevant and educational in this day and age.
The writing flows and sweeps the reader up into the time and place of Dorothy Kinney as she is working as a physician in a women’s hospital in India. It speaks of her cases, her life, her challenges and also gives a glimpse into her life in the 1930’s in a place that was a whole lot different than you or I have ever experienced. Dorothy deals with much both physically and emotionally and always trusts that her future will unfold as it is meant to. She is happy that it eventually leads her to meet Fred, marry and have a family. Her life takes her from India to the Philippines where she continues to work as a physician during peace and later as a prisoner of war. Her strength is immeasurable and amazing and her story one that I believe others will definitely enjoy reading.
NOTE: As a child I heard mission stories every week at church. I waited eagerly to hear them even contemplating becoming a missionary at times. That is not the path my life took and religion does not play the same part in my life it once did. Even though this is a story of a missionary who trusts in God it is also the story of a woman that all will admire…no matter their belief or lack thereof.
Thank you to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op for the ARC – This is my honest Review.
5 Stars