Mona McAlpine worked in Fair Isle before working in South Africa, where she delivered two of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren
A midwife-turned-writer who delivered two of Nelson Mandela's grandchildren has written a third book about her incredible life.
But Mona McAlpine, who witnessed for herself the Apartheid struggle in South Africa, has turned to childhood memories for what she says will be her last story, A Shetland Girl.
Raised in Whiteness during the 1940s, she later found herself working as the Fair Isle nurse - the sole provider of medical care for the remote island's population.
McAlpine, now 84 and living in Inverness, then pursued a nursing career in South Africa, where she lived and worked for three decades.
During that time she was eyewitness to one of South Africa's biggest and most heart-rending crimes and met the great and the good of the country, including the late President Mandela.
Following her return to her native isles, McAlpine and her husband Iain set up their charity From Shetland With Love, supporting orphanages in southern Africa.
A life story brought full circle
A Shetland Girl, published by Kessock Books, follows her earlier books, A Fair Isle Nurse and A Midwife in Africa, bringing her life story full circle.
It "pulls the threads together" and offers McAlpine the chance to recall her childhood experiences in wartime Shetland.
The memoir offers an insight into nursing in the 1960s, drawing on McAlpine's experiences training in Elgin and Stirling, the stark contrasts of working in London's affluent Chiswick district and in Glasgow's Gorbals, and then caring for patients in Fair Isle.
A Shetland Girl's final chapters bring the story full circle, with McAlpine's return to Shetland from South Africa, where she and her husband Iain had raised their family and tackled head-on the challenges and rewards of working in a country undergoing immense political and social change.
Far from retiring quietly, they started their charity From Shetland With Love, dedicating themselves to raising funds and supporting orphanages across southern Africa, continuing a lifetime of service to others.
Childhood memories in wartime Shetland
But her new book reflects on some of her earliest childhood memories.
I was born in the middle of the Second World War. There is a little bit about that, about the military and the soldiers. We had a shop in Whiteness. Whatever happened in the district happened in the shop, because there was no other shop, or pub, or whatever.
Reflecting on her early life, McAlpine says she was spurred on by a bad teacher - described anonymously as "Miss B" - at her school in Whiteness.
I had a terrible, terrible primary school. It was awful. The teacher had it in for me from the very beginning. I heard many rumours of why she hated me - and she really did hate me.
McAlpine's education duly suffered. But it was during a later spell at the Scalloway school that she met well-known isles teacher, poet and activist Lollie Graham.
He, I think, rescued me, and set me on the right path,
she said, adding her experiences with "Miss B" ultimately spurred her on to follow her nursing career.
I think, in a way, she inspired me to try very hard.
From Fair Isle to South Africa
Fair Isle was the beginning of it, really. We did our training in Glasgow and when I came back I found myself in Fair Isle. From there we went out to South Africa, and that was something as well.
Describing her encounter with the late anti-Aparteid revolutionary, who later became president of South Africa, she said:
I knew him very well. I delivered two of his grandchildren. He was a lovely, lovely man.
McAlpine will be giving her new book a Shetland launch on 31st October at the Whiteness and Weisdale hall from 2pm to 6pm.
Attending the event will be Shaetlan Scriever Claire White. A raffle will be held, with funds going to Clan Cancer Support.
