Kieran Donaghue
Praying for Sunlight, Waiting for Rain
2024
Ellen Starck, a young South Australian from a privileged background, shares the prejudices of her society about native peoples. Her initial experience of the newly 'discovered' New Guinea highlands, in which she arrives in 1937 as the wife of a Lutheran missionary, does little to change her mind.
She begins by marking time, hoping her husband will soon tire of his missionary work, but she gradually ventures beyond the meagre European society around her into the highland world-especially the world of women and girls, whom she comes to see as New Guinea's best hope.
Providing simple health care in nearby villages gives her a sense of purpose, but then personal tragedy strikes, testing her to her limits. Unexpected new relationships, born in part of the tragedy, help her through her grief and encourage her to stay in the highlands.
Eventually the prospect of a new life in America presents itself, but the Pacific War intervenes, bringing further isolation and loss. Her response is a decision to return home, but not to the home she originally left.
About the Author
Kieran Donaghue studied philosophy in Australia, the United States and Germany in the 1970s and 1980s. He taught for a short period at the Australian National University, then spent nearly twenty years working for the Australian Government’s overseas aid program. During this time he made numerous visits to countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, learning much from local people and from many fine aid workers dedicated to improving the lives of others. Praying for Sunlight, Waiting for Rain has its genesis in the visits Kieran made as an aid official to the highlands of Papua New Guinea.
Further biographical details, along with information about Kieran’s first novel, German Lessons, and his contribution to an anthology on the 2019–20 Australian bushfires,Continent Aflame: Responses to an Australian Catastrophe, can be found at www.kierandonaghue.com.
