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Mary Findlay – New Zealand Author Mary Findlay was born in 1914 and christened Mary Catherine Howard Wilkinson. She was educated at Wellington East Girls’ College and excelled at swimming, English and writing. She wanted to stay at school but there was no money for books, uniforms or exam fees. Her mother had died, her father was a drunkard and beat her, and she was often poorly dressed and unkempt. Aged fifteen, and at a time when jobs were hard to find, she had to find work and support herself. Mary Findlay's first and only book, “Tooth and Nail – the story of a daughter of the Depression" was first published in New Zealand in 1974. [1] The book describes her early working life and hardships – ‘a teenage girl condemned by character and circumstances to fight “tooth and nail” for food and shelter during the depression of the early 1930s’. In her sixties, she took a writing course to develop her skills she raced to tell her story.[4] She knew her mother and grandmother had died of bowel cancer and she worked furiously to complete her book. Her son, Ken, was taught to cook so he could feed the family when she died. Ken persuaded her to include bits that Mary thought society would not like to read about – for example, sexual assaults while in service. [3]She died 16th January 1974, a few months before the book was published, never enjoying the accolades that followed. Penguin Books re-published it in 1989 under the same title[2]. Mary’s book reveals much about the bigotry of the 1920s and 1930s. She trained as a nurse but her poor upbringing counted against her. She lost her job when she was seen on the pillion of a motor bike barelegged and with her skirts hitched up, She finally got a job with The NZ Treasury and showed intelligence and promise, but her father arrived drunk at the reception desk and she was fired. Working on a farm near Lake Wakatipu in the South Island she at last felt she had a family. But then as a live-in maid for a family where the mother was incapacitated, the father, a church warden and Rotarian, forced himself upon her in her bedroom. At times she descended into depression. She returned to nursing which she enjoyed and did well at, but her past record kept catching up with her - when a towel blocked the hospital sewers she was wrongly blamed and fired. Struggling to stay afloat financially in Auckland and in despair, she descended into petty crime. She then met her future husband, Ben Findlay and they form an immediate bond - his Maori mother had died, he had a bad father, and both Mary and Ben’s parents were orphans. In the book’s epilogue Mary writes - "both of us bore the scars of our deprivations”. They had five children: Vincent died at 15 months. Ken was born in 1938, Robin 1940, Mary 1942 and Joy 1949. Ken and Mary in particular were greatly influenced in their later lives by Mary’s principles, and her activism and support for social causes.[4] As an adult, Mary had very strong principles about right and wrong and taught her children to stand their ground if they knew they were right. She lacked confidence in herself and thought she was unattractive. She felt she was uneducated and suffered a sense of inferiority. She avoided being photographed - she refused to have her face photographed for the cover of her book – the Penguin Edition used a model.[4] Author and researcher Sandra Coney writes: Until recently few working-class women have expressed their life experience in art. Mary Findlay’s autobiography, Tooth and Nail, gives a vivid impression of life for women in the 1930s Depression, but she did not begin writing it until late in life, after she had brought up a family. A pattern of having to delay writing or painting for years, or working sporadically in time snatched from domestic responsibilities, is typical of many talented women. Few managed to combine steady work in the arts and crafts with marriage and motherhood until the most recent wave of feminism cleared the way.[7] In adult life Mary was active in protest movements. She was a people person, friendly and dedicated to causes and an articulate speaker. Mary became involved in Māori politics and the Māori Women’s Welfare League. She became secretary of the Wellington branch and assistant secretary of the National League. This work was especially important in the period when Māori moved to cities (especially after WWII) and some women got drawn into prostitution. Mary's son Ken later talked to schools in the Wellington region about these issues. Prime Minister Peter Fraser was instrumental in the founding of the Welfare League. Mary was also secretary of the English Speaking Union in Wellington and a founding member of the New Zealand Play Centre movement.[4]