Shattered Dreams of a Runaway Nun

Her name is Grace. She was born to a strong Roman Catholic family on the prairies of Saskatchewan. Her destiny, chosen by her parents, was to become a nun and so on her 18th birthday, she joined the convent, ready to grow close to Jesus and pray her family into heaven. There she earned two degrees in voice and one in piano. Eleven years later Grace, now known simply as Sister Michael, found herself quietly leaving the convent and all that was familiar to her in the middle of the night, having become disillusioned with the religious structure and not having found the relationship she yearned for. Having to connect again to a society that was completely foreign to her, Grace began a journey that included performing, teaching, falling in love, becoming a hippy and then a shipwreck followed by heartbreak. Along the way she found the relationship with Jesus she had always longed for and learned to allow God to become her strength, her companion, her shield. This is Grace's story from the beginning, a story about shattered dreams and a God of mercy and love. About the Authors: Grace Dunford was born the twelfth child of a pioneering Saskatchewan family. While fulfilling her destiny to be a nun, she studied voice and piano, earning herself several music degrees. Following her years in the convent, Grace taught voice and piano throughout British Columbia and now lives with her husband, Ivan, in Enderby, British Columbia. Gerty Shipmaker is a freelance writer, writing a humour column for a local newspaper. She has received the Bronze Columnist Award at the 2006 Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards, with work appearing in MORE magazine, Beyond Ordinary Living, and newspapers throughout Canada. Her first book, Till Gay Do Us Part, was published in 2010. She is married to Ian, and together they have six children and five grandchildren and make their home in the sunny Okanagan in British Columbia.