biography of Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans.

Bermudian author and educator Randi Williams not only tackles the career of Bermuda's first female barrister, first black female Member of Parliament, first female opposition leader and first political appointee as Attorney General -- he also reveals the names of people who have been long forgotten in their role as early members of the Progressive Labour Party.

The better part of a decade in the making, Mr. Williams' `Lois: Bermuda's Grand Dame of Politics' will be made available through advance orders beginning today. `Lois' is Mr. Williams' fourth book and third biography.

Mr. Williams spoke to The Royal Gazette exclusively during a recent trip from his Toronto home.

"I think history will reveal that there are few people who can equal the political and legal energy that the shrewd Lois Browne Evans has exhibited and continues to exhibit,'' he said of why he began the task of writing about the pioneering Attorney General.

"Even when interviewing her, the politician always came to the fore,'' he explained. "The challenge was to strip away Lois the Politician, Lois the Lawyer and get to Lois the Person. I think I've done that.'' Mr. Williams added: "It is impossible to chronicle Dame Lois' life without mapping the history of the PLP and their role as Opposition under her leadership and even now as Government.'' "I started working on this book in the early 1990s, however when the opportunity to do the book on the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital came along, Dame Lois was kind enough to say `go ahead, you do that book' and this project was put on hold.

"As with all of my books,'' he added, "it is set in the economic, political and social time of its subject, which I think is vitally important, because you can't take the subject out of its time.'' Mr. Williams interviewed a catalogue of local politicians, Dame Lois' political and legal friends and foes, including Sir Edward Richards, Sir Henry Tucker, Sir John Sharpe, Arnold Francis, Sen. Hugh Richardson, Edward DeJean, Ann Cartwright and Gilbert Darrell.

And he delves into a few of her more spectacular cases like the unsuccessful defence of Shopping Centre murderer Larry Tacklyn and the successful immigration case of psychiatrist Neville Marks.

And he clears up "once and for all'' the controversial "fornicate in the bushes'' remark made by Dame Lois in 1967.

"There are several controversial areas in the book, starting with who were the founders of the PLP and the love hate relationship between the PLP and the Bermuda Industrial Union,'' Mr. Williams explained."People will obviously look for the stuff about Dame Lois, particularly where she encourages young people to fornicate in the bushes.'' When asked what he had concluded, Mr. Williams chuckled, and said: "Well she's a controversial woman. There's no question about that in my mind that she, like any other human being has said and continues to say things that they regret.

"Those statements will often be taken out of context. To my great surprise, when Dame Lois made that statement, she didn't know the difference between fornication and adultery,'' he explained. "The context was that she would rather them to do that than take drugs. And at least the product would be another PLP baby as opposed to being strung out on drugs.

"She was berated because of the comment -- but that was shortly after the days when the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Simon Frazer, headed a Government committee studying sterilisation methods to limit the primarily black population.

"In that context, whether right or wrong, it was made. It was an extension of a very naive Lois, someone who was brought up in a very sheltered family.

"Very sheltered,'' he emphasised.

About Dame Lois' legal career, he said: "Of course it is impossible to talk about the Tacklyn case without talking about the social ramifications of the riots of 1977 where we see Lois as both lawyer and politician at the same time and we clearly have difficulty distinguishing the two.

"In the Marks case we see her principle that it does not matter what colour a person is, that person is innocent until proven guilty,'' Mr. Williams explained. "Let's face it -- she took some of the most controversial cases in Bermuda in her time.

"And if there is one word I would link to her career, both politically and legally it would be indefatigable. From the outset she threw herself into her career, ignoring rumours that they would not allow a female to practice law here.'' Mr. Williams added: "Regardless about how one feels about Lois Browne Evans, one can't deny that she has made one of the most important, noteworthy contributions to Bermuda.

"Especially since she didn't want to return to Bermuda when she completed her legal training -- she felt she would be more successful in a larger jurisdiction!'' he said. When asked what was the most difficult part of producing the book, Mr. Williams paused and said: "The most difficult? Keeping Lois on schedule. That was indeed the most difficult. But while it is impossible to write everything about somebody, I would like to think that I have captured Lois warts and all.'' Randy Williams ATTORNEY GENERAL AG