In this autobiography, Nieminen poignantly describes her own struggle as a deaf person to gain an education, to pursue a career, and to be a wife and mother. Fortunately, she had some hearing as a child and learned to read, speak, and write in Finnish and to read the lips of Finnish speakers before she became fully deaf. Unwilling to admit her impairment, she did not associate with deaf persons or learn sign language until she was a young woman.

In the meantime, she married a hearing person and had two hearing sons.

When Nieminen arrives on St. Lucia, she discovers that she is even more isolated than she was in Finland. She cannot read the lips of English speakers, although she reads and writes the language, and she finds no organized deaf community. Also, she does not comprehend American sign language and has...