To Know the Lovely Night

"It was early morning and the deputation sent to kill us had arrived. The heat inside the tent was stifling...... and the silence and tension were palpable. I crouched on the rough stony floor clutching my two tiny children." (Somaliland,1953)

This captivating biography is a love song to life, to wild and inhospitable Africa, family, and Australia. It is a stunning portrait of an acclaimed woman scientist, Dr Mary E. White, environmentalist and writer, best known for her book The Greening of Gondwana.

Mary takes us on a remarkable journey spanning two continents. At times poignant, sometimes hair-raising, always evocative and gripping, in parts deeply moving, there is tragedy, warmth and humour, contentment and joy in unlikely places. 

Mary's African story gives an insight into life in outposts of the British Empire in the 1920s-50s. Her Australian story reveals her remarkable emergence from housewife and mother to scientist and writer, her conservation efforts and her eventual deterioration, dementia and stroke. The harrowing story of her death and its aftermath-a murder trial-forms the conclusion to Mary's story and raises questions about end-of-life care and laws around the right to die.

This is the engaging life story of a woman of indomitable spirit, Mary Elizabeth White.