Ebook Details
The Prison Angel
After a wealthy childhood in Beverly Hills, two failed marriages and much spiritual searching, Mary Clarke put on a homemade habit and headed down to the most notorious prison in Tijuana, Mexico, where she has lived and worked since 1977. Alternately described as "a hustler," "a refreshing Coca-Cola in the desert" and "an oasis of purity," this intriguing Californian believes in the goodness of all people. Vicious murderers, deplorable dealers, society's drifters—Clarke, now known as Mother Antonia, ministers to all of them, brings them donated blankets, even convinces dentists to fix their rotting teeth and plastic surgeons to remove their gang tattoos. And all get hugs. Jordan and Sullivan, who report from Mexico for the Washington Post , paint a portrait of this remarkable woman with a light touch, rarely digressing into lyricism or political backstories. In fact, there are times when readers may feel that complex lives are oversimplified, and that the moral quandaries of Mother Antonia's universe are paved over. But the authors tell her stories simply, and with dignity, allowing Mother Antonia's passionate determination to come through without cliché and beautifully illustrating her rare approach to society's wayward and forgotten. Agent, Sterling Lord. (May 5) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. At 77, Mother Antonia lives among drug traffickers and other criminals in a jail cell in La Mesa prison in Tijuana, Mexico, dispensing spiritual and material care to prisoners and their families. Jordan and Sullivan, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters with the Washington Post , spent three years researching the long, astonishing journey of a woman who, at the age of 50, left the comforts of suburban L.A. to begin a charity mission in Mexico. Twice divorced and with seven adult children, the former Mary Clarke brought a full lifetime of perspective to her work, attracting the attention of Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II, who blessed her mission. Despite her own poor health, Mother Antonia visits lepers, buries the dead who are unidentified, offers spiritual counseling to brutal prison guards, and squelches a riot when prisoners are overcome by their horrific living conditions. This is an inspiring story of one woman's compassion and her own journey of spiritual growth. Vanessa Bush Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
(from Amazon.com)
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