About Time: The Biography of a New Zealand Prison Chaplain

by Marie Gray

When the young Lawrie More passed Mt Eden prison on his way to school, little did he imagine that twenty years of his life would be spent behind such forbidding walls. He would eventually become senior prison chaplain of New Zealand and leave his indelible stamp on the system and those involved in it -- 'inside' and 'outside'. Through the eyes of an unorthodox and colourful personality we look 'inside' and meet criminals sent down for murder, rape and robbery and a prostitute who demands attention. Here is a mirror on to the human face of the system, where anger and suspicion grow in the hot-house of isolation and punishment, and human dignity is left at the prison gate. About Time is both a gripping story and textbook. It is asking what society is doing to help the offender face himself and the outside world again.

271 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1991

About the author

Marie Gray was born of Irish stock in New Zealand. After nursing training she married a doctor. They lived in Indonesia for twelve years prior to their return to New Zealand.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Caroline Barron · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in Auckland (New Zealand) history, or what went on behind the stone walls of Mt Eden Prison, then this book is for you. 'About Time' is Mary Gray’s 1991 biography of Reverend Lawrie More, who was prison chaplain during Mt Eden Prison’s 1965 riots. His dedication to inmates and their extended families was incredible, and he even had prisoners stay in his home to rehabilitate - definitely a new way of doing things at the time.
I am gutted to find out on Google just now that More was killed in a freak accident in 2010, aged 88, when an elderly driver drove off the road and into More’s North Shore home. So awful to read that after spending time with this great man on the page this week. An interesting read, especially after recently reading Dame Fiona Kidman's 'This Mortal Boy' about one of the last men to be hanged at Mt Eden Prison.