Book: The Road from Coorain

Jill Ker Conway’s The Road from Coorain was a favorite book of mine. What I remember most is her perseverance and the remarkable trajectory of a life that began on a remote Australian sheep station and eventually led her to become the first woman president of Smith College. (About Conway and the book)

The memoir tells the early part of that journey. Knowing where she would ultimately go gives those years a particular weight. The difficulties she faced, her pursuit of an education, and her growing independence become part of a story whose possibilities she could not yet fully see.

That is what stays with me: she had to keep going without knowing how it would all turn out. Looking back, we can trace the path toward Smith College. Along the way, she had to make choices without the reassurance of knowing where they would lead.

There is something encouraging about that. When we hear about an accomplished person, we often encounter the title first. A memoir lets us meet the person before that achievement, when so much is still uncertain. It makes the distance she traveled feel more real.

I don’t remember every detail of The Road from Coorain, but I remember admiring the woman at its center. Her perseverance made an impression on me, and her eventual presidency at Smith made that early story all the more meaningful.

It makes me want to pick up the book again, to revisit the beginnings of a life whose direction and reach I still find inspiring.