'In the fading glory days of the legendary Age of Sail, a slip of a girl fulfilled her dream to sail across the world on two of the last windjammers, L’Avenir and Parma,in the mid-1930s. That ‘slip of a girl’– Mary Lang –was the late aunt of Byron Shire writer, Sue Vader. Sue embarked on a voyage of discovery – a journey around her aunt –captivated by the evocative diariesMary kept as a passenger/apprentice (the only woman aboard) and marvelled at the historic photographs both by and of Mary.
As Mary’s daughter, Anne, recently remarked: ‘Who is this fascinating woman? I’d love to meet her!’ Both Sue and Anne felt the world needed to meet her too. Thus To Sea in a Sailing Ship, a coffee table book of Mary’s superb photographs and poetically written diaries, was conceived.' (Byron Bay Writers' Festival website)
