Jan Conway
Paperback | December 2020
Were Andy and Jan Conway brave, as some said, or naïve to take three young children to live on a remote coral atoll? Transferred by the Bank of New South Wales to Tarawa, Kiribati in 1979 they were seduced by images of an exotic island idyll. Reality set in when the bank instructed them to take everything the family required for two years: food, clothing, toiletries, medical supplies. In this evocative memoir, Jan’s vivid prose brings to life her experiences as she and her family adapt to living on a remote Pacific atoll, 1 degree north of the equator. What they discover is a new way of observing the world around them and a high regard for the I-Kiribati and their culture.
I have swum in warm opal waters, been fanned by lush tropical palms, strolled along beaches with sands of silk. I have sailed over reefs and fished from canoes. I have giggled with local school children, been embraced by elders and welcomed into communities. Through the eyes of Jan Conway, I have been seduced by Tarawa. By its beauty, its people, its culture. I didn’t want to leave.
—Annabet Ousback, ‘Red Herrings for Breakfast’.
A warm and wonderful memoir.
—Susanne Gervay OAM, past president of the Society of Women Writers NSW
Available Wallacia Books: wallacia35@gmail.com