Vera's Best

Born in 1925 and educated at Reichesbeuern boarding school in Germany, Vera Maria Gablenz-Thuerheim married Reverend John Ryecart, an RAF chaplain in 1949 and gave birth to two sons before her husband was appointed Anglican chaplain and mission to seafarers in Israel. Embracing the cosmopolitan lifestyle, her close friendships in Israel helped her gain a deeper understanding of Palestinian issues and an empathy for the Palestinian quest for justice, dignity and freedom, inspiring much of her subsequent poetry. She left Israel at the end of the 1950s, establishing herself in 1960 in the parish of Hempstead in the UK as a much-loved, if unconventional, vicar's wife, eventually retiring near Harwich by the sea, where she indulged her love of writing poetry. This book contains some of her best poems, covering a wide range of issues, from religion and politics to art and precious childhood memories.