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A memoir by Grace McKee

A Kaleidoscope
of Memories

From barefoot in Bangalore to the hallowed halls of Harvard

A childhood in Bangalore. Medical school at seventeen. Seven years away from the profession she loved, and the long way back to it, through New York, England, France and finally Harvard.

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Meet Grace

Front cover of A Kaleidoscope of Memories: an oil painting of a woman in a red sari walking barefoot at the edge of the sea.
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The memoir

A Kaleidoscope of Memories

From barefoot in Bangalore to the hallowed halls of Harvard

Thirteen chapters. A bungalow in Bangalore, a dissection hall in Vellore, a New York night shift, a religious college that asked a qualified doctor to stop practising, a farmhouse in Gascony, a laboratory in Boston.

A memoir about the people who shape a life, and about the plain, unglamorous persistence that carries one from a village dispensary to the hallowed halls of Harvard.

  • Memoir
  • India
  • Family
  • Medicine
  • Education
  • Travel
  • Resilience
  • Reinvention
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A Kaleidoscope of Memories by Grace McKee, full cover artwork.

The bookshelf

More Books by Grace

From childhood adventures to art, travel and medicine. Explore Grace’s books on Amazon.

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Grace McKee, photographed smiling in a red jacket and patterned scarf.

About the author

A Life of Curiosity,
Courage and Connection

Born in Bangalore. Schooled across half of India. A doctor at twenty-one, a professor at Harvard, with seven years in between when she was told to give medicine up altogether.

Grace McKee has spent her life arriving somewhere new and beginning again. What happened in those seven years, and how she came back from them, is the story she has finally written down.

13 Age she left school
1 of 50 Chosen for Vellore
Four Countries called home
Read Grace’s story

The route

From Bangalore to Harvard

Thirteen chapters, thirteen places. Follow the line across the map of a life.

Explore the full journey
India · Karnataka

Bangalore

A house of aunts and cousins, and the grandmother at the centre of it. Ch. 1 · Whispers of Innocence

India · Rajasthan

Ajmer & Abu Road

North by steam train to Rajasthan, and the morning a six-year-old saved a life. Ch. 2 · Our Adventures Begin

India · Madhya Pradesh

Ratlam

A mother who taught her at the dining table, years ahead of her class. Ch. 3 · Life with my Mother

India · Deolali

Barnes High School

Ten years old in a class of thirteen-year-olds. She completed high school at thirteen. Ch. 4 · Barnes High School

India · Bombay

Sophia College

Two years too young for medicine, and an unexpected companion to fill them. Ch. 5 · Life’s Rich Tapestry

India · Tamil Nadu

Vellore

One of fifty chosen that year. The youngest of them all. Ch. 6 · Medical School

United States

New York

Fifteen dollars, one winter coat, and a Bible that would not fit in the case. Ch. 7 · Fledgling Doctors

England · Hertfordshire

Bricket Wood

A medical room with no medicine in it, and an instruction she could not accept. Ch. 8 · Dragged into a Religious Sect

England · London

St Thomas’ Hospital

Seven years out of medicine, three children, and one interview that changed everything. Ch. 9 · Marriage

England · Surrey

Guildford

Consultant cytopathologist, and the founder of a training school of her own. Ch. 10 · Guildford

France · Gers

Larroque

A ruined stone farmhouse in Gascony, bought on sight one warm afternoon. Ch. 11 · Larroque

United States · Boston

Harvard

Associate Professor at Harvard, then red rock, and a second vocation. Ch. 12 · American Adventures

France → England

Deux-Sèvres

An attic studio, a fig tree, and four words from a neighbour that meant home. Ch. 13 · Back to La belle France

Keep scrolling to travel

Memories in motion

Eight turns of the kaleidoscope

The same life, seen from eight different angles.

01

Childhood

A garden in Bangalore, and everything a small girl could want.

02

Learning

“Looks don’t last, but learning will take care of you for the rest of your life.”

03

Medicine

Formalin, weekly examinations, and a village clinic queue that stretched for miles.

04

Belief

A doctrine that had an answer for everything, including what she should stop doing.

05

Motherhood

Three children, hand-sewn dresses, and five pounds a week to run a household.

06

Return

Seven years out of practice, and a single line in a journal that opened the door.

07

Teaching

Textbooks, including images seen down a microscope; lecture halls from Nagoya to Auckland.

08

Painting

A first box of decent brushes, sixty-odd years in, and a studio in a French attic.

All obstacles can be overcome and dreams can be fulfilled by sheer determination.

Grace McKee · A Kaleidoscope of Memories

A life across continents

Four countries, one thread

A simple journey through the four countries that shaped Grace’s life.

Grace McKee: four countries, one thread India United States United Kingdom France

India

Bangalore · Ajmer · Ratlam · Deolali · Bombay · Vellore

Where she was born, taught, examined and finally trained: five years at Christian Medical College and a gold medal from the University of Madras.

United States

New York · Boston · Arizona

An internship in Queens at twenty-four; three decades later, an associate professorship at Harvard and, after that, a paintbrush in Sedona.

United Kingdom

Bricket Wood · St Albans · London · Guildford

Where she raised three children, returned to medicine at St Thomas’ Hospital, and became a consultant cytopathologist in Surrey. Where she lives now.

France

Mas d’Auvignon, Gers · Boussais, Deux-Sèvres

Two houses, twenty years apart: a Gascon farmhouse restored stone by stone, and a cottage with an attic that became a painting studio.

From the albums

Photographs & Paintings

Family photographs from the memoir, alongside Grace’s own oil paintings.

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A studio photograph of Grace's grandmother in white Kerala dress, holding Grace as a month-old baby. Early years Ammama and her first grandchild
Grace as a newly qualified doctor in a white coat, holding a stethoscope. Medical life A fledgling doctor
Grace as a small child standing on a platform in front of a steam locomotive in India. Early years Beside the engine
An oil painting by Grace McKee of two women in yellow and orange saris beside a pale stone wall. Paintings Saris against a white wall
The long stone farmhouse at Larroque in the Gers, south-west France. France Larroque, Gascony
An oil painting by Grace McKee of lavender in zinc buckets on a sunlit table. Paintings Lavender in zinc

The journal

Notes between the chapters

Short pieces on memory, medicine and the making of the book.

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Behind the book Grace and Phillip photographed together.

Why I began writing at all

Placeholder copy. This card demonstrates the article layout. Swap in a real post about the walk in Sunderland Park where the memoir started.

Sample post4 min read

Memories A sepia studio portrait of Grace as a young girl in India.

The things a grandmother teaches you

Placeholder copy. Intended for short reflective pieces drawn from the chapters: here, learning to knit with dry broom stalks.

Sample post3 min read

Reflections An oil painting by Grace McKee of pale blue eggs in a woven nest.

Learning to paint in my sixties

Placeholder copy. A space for writing about the studio, the teachers, and starting something new long after most people stop.

Sample post5 min read

Events

Readings, talks and launches

Upcoming appearances will be announced here

Book launch details, readings and academic conversations will be listed as they are confirmed. Join the mailing list to hear about them first.

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