The book tells the story of Agnes Gonxha, born in Skopje in
1910, who at the age of eighteen left her family to live for God
as Sister Teresa. She became a missionary in India, dressed
in a poor blue and white sari and volunteered to work for
the poor in the slums of Calcutta. With her collaborators, the
Missionaries of Charity, she started a big home for children.
The organisation grew and they founded 23 homes in India.
They extended their work to other countries, and after a BBC
programme about her and her work in 1969 she became
world-famous as Mother Teresa. In 1979, she was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize. When Mother Teresa died in 1997,
there were 4,000 Missionaries of Charity in 123 countries.
She thought of herself as a pen in God’s hand – “And He is
sending a love letter to the world,” she used to say.