Imagine Call the Midwife, but instead of the cobbled streets and rushing bicycles of 1950s East End London there are the lush jungles of Borneo, and a Geordie nurse answering calls from native people who have never seen a face as pale as hers before.

This is the setting for the Midwife of Borneo.

This is Wendy Grey’s story. A true story.

Her life in Newcastle was a comfortable one. As a trained nurse with a promising future ahead of her, Wendy Gray’s future seemed secure. Fixed. Or, it would be if she didn’t sense God calling her elsewhere, to a place a little warmer and wilder than the streets of Newcastle.

Soon she finds herself thousands of miles away from home, hundreds of miles away from urban life, running a clinic so remote from everything she’s ever known that many of her patients stare at her light skin with disbelief. But it’s not only her appearance that causes a stir. In a place where witchcraft is the primary form of medical care, there is a wall of suspicion about these alien practices Wendy brings to the area. Not that her resilient friendliness doesn’t begin to win the inhabitants over one-by-one. She soon wins over the trust and respect of the men, women and children there.

If only teaching new ways of medicine were her only problems, though. From the poisonous wildlife of Borneo to tea-parties with the governor to even playing scrobble with nuns, these events of Wendy’s are told with a tremendous eye for detail, thanks to Wendy herself. Throughout her whole time in Borneo, she wrote in her diary by oil-light, in her palm-leaf house, at the very edge of the day.

Her story shows not only a great courage, but the ways a deep love and faith can motivate a single person to do amazing things. A great read for fans of Call the Midwife, Wendy Gray’s story is an uplifting and endearing read.