Munro, Jessie

IN BRIEF

Jessie Munro is a biographer and French teacher. Her biography of Susanne Aubert won the Book of the Year Award at the 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Awards, as well as winning the Best First Book for non-fiction award in the same year. Michael King wrote, ‘This is a superb book, scrupulously researched,’ adding that it importantly ‘speaks to our times.’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Munro, Jessie (1946 - ) is a writer whose biography of Suzanne Aubert won the 1997 Montana New Zealand Book Awards Book of the Year Award, an extraordinary achievement considering the book was also eligible for, and won, the Best First Book for non-fiction award in the same year.

Suzanne Aubert was a French nun who lived in New Zealand from 1860 until her death in 1926. Her activism on behalf of New Zealand's poor justifies her description by Michael King as 'a New Zealand heroine of colossal proportions.'

In the NZ Listener Michael King writes of The Story of Suzanne Aubert: 'This is a superb book, scrupulously researched from sources in English, French, Latin and Italian, stylishly written, generously illustrated and rewarding to read. It succeeds in depicting the broad contours of an important life and a sense of how it was lived on a day-to-day basis. Most importantly, it speaks to our times.'

Jessie Munro is a former Commonwealth scholar. She is a teacher of French, and her studies in French, Latin and Italian, as well as New Zealand history, all contributed to the writing of The Story of Suzanne Aubert.

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