Across the Divides,Chile: A Different Perspective

In the challenges confronted by a very ordinary family in far from ordinary circumstances, the author writes of the divides encountered and crossed in a country torn apart politically as well as geologically. Gill Williamson Smith arrived in Marxist Chile with her Anglican minister husband and their three children, all under four years, to an earthquake, endless queues for food, political intrigues and assassinations. Within three years fragile democracy was replaced by a harsh military dictatorship. The call of God took them from working among Cockneys in the East End of London to well-heeled, middle-class Chileans and Diplomats, a call tested in the crucible of adversity. Humour and frustration, laughter and tears, hopes and fears give the reader some idea of living out the Christian faith in both Allende s and Pinochet s Chile. Pre-conceived ideas of those on the other side , both in politics and in faith, are re-defined for the author as God is encountered in surprising ways. Tracing the lives of some of those leads the reader to a discovery of far-reaching consequences, both within and beyond Chile today.

Gill Williamson-Smith, a qualified nurse and midwife, was among the second wave of women to be ordained to the Anglican priesthood. She, together with her husband, has travelled widely, and they have recently moved in retirement from Cambridge to Frinton-on-Sea.