Stories of Untold Resilience committed to the page

Posted on 20 October, 2020

If ever there was a book which spoke to these, ahem, unprecedented times, then Untold Resilience would be it.

The brainchild of media powerhouses Jamila Rizvi and Helen McCabe who run Future Women, the book is a collation of the stories of 19 extraordinary—but largely unknown—Australian women who have survived monumental life challenges and lived to tell their tales with good humour and wisdom.

According to Jamila, the idea came about at the start of the pandemic when she and Helen had a conversation about how they both wished they could speak with their grandmothers.

Author Helen McCabe

“We wanted to hear the strong, kind voices of women who’d lived through this sort of global upheaval before. We wanted them to tell us it would all be alright. With our grandmothers long past, we decided to draw on the wisdom of other women in our community and share their words in a book.”

Tracking down their subjects was “enormously involved”.

“We began with people we knew, then branched out through networks of aunts and cousins, friends and in-laws, colleagues and churchgoers, community groups and more. The final nineteen women whose stories make up the pages of Untold Resilience are truly extraordinary and shared their stories with enormous grace and generosity.”

The process also reinforced the notion that everyone has a story to tell, if only they’re given the platform and space to tell it.

“Most of the women we spoke to had never been given a formal chance to speak about their personal histories and while they found it difficult, it was ultimately rewarding.”

More than half a dozen journalists and three editors worked on the book—creating some sort of land-speed-word record given the space between the first interview to the first draft was less than nine weeks.

Which means Jamila and Helen are both a tad exhausted.

Author Jamila Rizvi

The decision to go with unknown stories is also new territory.

“Each of us is interested in celebrities or individuals who are household names because of their various achievements. But I think there is glory in the ordinary as well. Every life is important and meaningful, and as you discover while reading Untold Resilience, each of these women has lessons to impart for another generation. Their lives won’t be imprinted on the pages of history but their stories are valuable nonetheless. I think there is great power in the common experience of women, across generations and cultures.”

For Jamila, the stories of Val, Be, Phoebe and Dorothy hold personal significance as she was charged with the task of writing them.

Val survived the Depression as a child, before being subjected to extraordinary violence at the hands of her husband. She then went on to raise four daughters alone, a phenomenal feat and a testament to her personal resilience. Be escaped communist Vietnam as a refugee after her husband’s life was endangered, making her way to Australia in a tiny 11-foot boat with 150 others.

Phoebe has dedicated her life to the service of others. She became an aid worker in Africa when that was absolutely not the done thing for a young Australian woman, before spending close to a decade in the field. And Dorothy was the first lesbian minister in the Australian Uniting Church, a woman who fought for the rights of her community unflinchingly and still does today.

“Each woman seeks joy in her personal life and positive influence in her community, even when that is hard sometimes. Their grit, determination and resilience shine through on every page,” says Jamila. “They get on with things. They honour the dead and they honour their losses but they don’t get stuck in their sadness. They look up, they look for light and opportunity, and they have moved forward because busy women always have things to do.”

Jamila also believes the book has relevance for other women, and men, of all ages.

“For older women, these are the stories of your compatriots, your school-friends, your workmates, and the mothers you met at the primary school gates. Their stories are your stories and will offer a glorious trip down memory lane. For women in middle age, these stories will inspire and reassure you. They are a reminder that no matter how hard it all seems sometimes, women have been there before and survived – you will too. And for young women and girls these stories will open your eyes to the generations who fought for the life you lead today, leaving you full of awe and gratitude.”

Untold Resilience, published by Penguin, is out today.