Trinity Western University nursing professor Sonya Grypma recently experienced the thrill of seeing her first book in print, after writing about Canadian nurses who served in China. The book, entitled Healing of Henan, focuses on a hospital where missionary nurses worked from 1888 to 1947.

Grypma did not seek out the inspiration for her book. Instead, she stumbled across some intriguing letters from Canadian nurses seven years ago.

“Before I found the letters I didn’t even know Canadian nurses were in China,” she said. Since then, Grypma has been studying the work of these nurses, leading up to the release of her book in January 2008.

Grypma hasn’t always been so interested in China’s history, but finding the letters changed that. “This period of history just disappeared,” she said, explaining that it is a little-known time because China disallowed information about the nurses to be released in the past.

China seems to have taken an interest in the letters, as well as Grypma herself. The professor has been invited for an anniversary celebration which will celebrate the Henan Hospital being transformed into a museum for the missionary nurses.

Grypma calls becoming a published author a dream come true, though it is a “weird [experience] seeing it as a book.”

But she’ll take no credit for the story. The reason the book is a great read, she said, is not because she is a fantastic writer, but because “the topic is so fascinating.”

Some of Grypma’s colleagues planned a book launch on Feb. 20, and she said the interest of fellow staff and students at TWU has given her encouragement.

The book is currently printed in hardcover, but will soon be in paperback as well. It contains photographs of the hospital which supplement the written story.

Grypma is in the beginning stages of writing her second book on this topic. The follow-up will be a biography of one of the nurses who worked in China during this time period.