Although Judith McKenzie deals with Jewett's childhood and university years, much of this insightful story is devoted to her public life as a Member of Parliament for the federal Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party and as a university president. President of Simon Fraser University from 1974 to 1978, she was the first woman to be appointed president of a public coeducational post-secondary institution in Canada. Jewett faced many challenges in her life, as a woman, an academic, a nationalist, and a social reformer. With tenacity and perseverance she overcame a number of social and gender barriers in place in Canada, becoming an important role model to a generation of younger women At the end of her life, she faced her greatest challenge - cancer - and fought this with her characteristic good humour, courage, and dignity.