A Trail of Light

As a five year old girl in her native Costa Rica - a country which, in the early 20th century, had neither a medical school nor a tradition of higher education for women - Anita Figueredo decided to become a doctor. She was supported in this quest by her courageous mother, and thus begins a spirited, lifelong adventure in service that includes a nearly 40 year friendship with Mother Teresa. In this compelling and affectionate memoir, one of the nine children of a pioneering woman surgeon searches for the secrets of her mother's extraordinary impact on her community, which extended from "home to . . . hospital, school, church and town, and eventually across international borders to the regions of desperation"