As a five year old girl in her native Costa Rica - a country which, in the early 20th century, had neither a medical school nor a tradition of higher education for women - Anita Figueredo decided to become a doctor. She was supported in this quest by her courageous mother, and thus begins a spirited, lifelong adventure in service that includes a nearly 40 year friendship with Mother Teresa. In this compelling and affectionate memoir, one of the nine children of a pioneering woman surgeon searches for the secrets of her mother's extraordinary impact on her community, which extended from "home to...hospital, school, church and town, and eventually across international borders to the regions of desperation."
