I want the things that I write to one day see the light of day, to be published. I want my children to understand that if they now live well, choose their partner, go on a honeymoon and live a better life, that they should not forget that their parents underwent years of hardship here in this foreign land. Those young women, who left their homeland and came here for a new tomorrow, often came up against such a lack of understanding that they were driven to despair, even suicide. It is to these wounded, immigrant women that I leave this book because I am one of them and I always think of them with love and compassion. Litsa Nikolopoulou-Gogas Litsa Nikolopoulou-Gogas’ memoir is a profoundly moving account of the events that informed and shaped her nearly nine-decade long life story: first, in her homeland, Greece, and then in her adopted homeland, Australia. In prose characterised by a sparseness of tone and searing honesty, she highlights the degree to which endemic patriarchy obliterated any dreams she might have harboured for determining her future choices; her fate was sealed at every turn ... The writer’s insistence on her right to tell her own story loudly and proudly could not have been more relevant or timely. Konstandina Dounis