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Summary: memoir of life in a Transylvanian village before WW II
Review: In this story of courage, struggle and the eternal optimism of youth, Christine Morgan describes the years when she and her husband, a young Hungarian Unitarian minister, worked to improve the standing of the Hungarian Unitarian minority in Romania. Together they contended with political oppression, social upheaval, poverty, and religious opposition in 1930s Transylvania. More than an account of Unitarian history between the wars and Transylvanian agrarian village life, ALABASTER VILLAGE is a personal story of a young woman's extraordinary struggle to hold together a marriage and start a family in the face of tremendous hardship and strain. ALABASTER VILLAGE is an autobiographical work based on the life and letters of the late Christine Morgan. In addition to her work in Transylvania, Morgan had a long career in social activism and civil rights in the United States. She served as Dean of Women at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and organized the Human Relations Commission in Appleton, Wisconsin.For many years, Christine's letters about her life could not be published, for fear of reprisals from the Romanian government. Now, more than a half century later, her moving story is at last told to inform a new generation of Unitarians who are seeking religious and civil freedom. "Even when my eyes were overflowing with tears, I could not stop reading for a moment. This is a bittersweet remembrance of disease, poverty, the early end of Christine's first pregnancy, separation from her husband, conflicting ideals, triumphs in the village in simple and universal ways, reconciliation work between ethnic groups, and, most of all, of the love of a mother for her child. It is a must read." Dr. Judith Gell, co-director, Center for Free Religion, Chico, California, and General Secretary, Partner Church Council, UUA.
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