Very Different Life

Maggie Thomson's story of how she has lived a full and rewarding life is truly inspirational. The first significant change in Maggie Thomson's life occurred when, at the age of twenty-two, she and her boyfriend, whom she had met at Bristol University, decided to return to his homeland in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia). Although it was against her father's wishes, she was determined to marry Mac, become a policeman's wife and pursue her career as a teacher. In April 1960, Maggie's life physically and metaphorically somersaulted when the car she was driving rolled down a bank, causing her to break her back - an injury that has confined her to a wheelchair ever since. Her old life stopped and another began, as a paraplegic in a strange land with limited facilities but lots of friends. She tells of her life in a wheelchair as it is, without glossing over the problems; but her writing clearly shows her attitude to life as one of adventure, of looking forward. She does not dwell on what might have been and pays tribute to her many friends and two sons who have helped her along the way. It is a book from which both the able-bodied and incapacitated can derive much strength and encouragement.