Cathy Reviews
New edition (new cover)
Cathy
Elva Schroeder
Even Before Publishing
Cathy Gray has left behind a loving family in Australia to follow her heart’s desire and work as a missionary in Papua-New Guinea. It is the beginning of the school year of 1966 when she arrives to take up her posting at Bethel Mission in the highlands above Goroka.
Life at the Mission produces many testing times for Cathy, not least being the often painful relationships that exist within the mission. The life she is living is far from the idyll that she had imagined; her growing friendship with a young Australian Patrol Officer makes the situation even more difficult.
Journey with Cathy as she works through the many and varied aspects of life and survival in the remote villages of Papua-New Guinea forty years ago. Cathy is a very enjoyable novel and can be read for pleasure or for an understanding of the era and the involvement of missionaries in PNG at the time.
The original cover is, unfortunately, very irritating and mars an otherwise delightful adventure-romance. New cover released September 2010 with the new edition published by Even Before Publishing.
DS
CATHY
Elva Schroeder
Cathy is an easy to read, but powerfully told story of a young woman’s experience as a missionary in New Guinea. Although no year is mentioned, it was not hard to pick up the timeframe in the story, as Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975.
The author has made good use of the language and attitudes of the time, and the characters are true to life, and much like those found in any Christian church where people of different backgrounds and personalities invariably clash.
The death of a small child, and Cathy’s complete surrender to the Lord reduced me to tears. Reading Cathy was like taking a step back in time where missionaries’ newsletters gave us a glimpse not only into their own lives, but also the lives of the people they were serving. It is a compelling reminder of God’s constant love for His children regardless of the colour of their skin, and that missionary life is definitely not for the fainthearted.
LC
CATHY
Elva Schroeder
Digital Reproductions
Cathy’s arrival in the Eastern Highlands of Papua-New Guinea doesn’t get off to a good start, and over the next couple of weeks it doesn’t seem to improve. However, she slowly adjusts to life on a mission station. Although she has a brush with a death adder, a serious car accident and malaria, her biggest challenge is what to do about her growing relationship with the local patrol officer, who doesn’t share her faith. This is a romantic story, in an exotic setting, but the style is too dated to appeal to young people. WN
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