Bread and Roses is the true story of Sonja Davies, a courageous woman who triumphs against overwhelming odds to make an extra-ordinary life.

Set in New Zealand and spanning twenty years this moving drama begins during World War II when Sonja falls in love with a young American soldier who is sent away to fight in the Pacific. Pregnant and unwed, Sonja learns that he will not return and once her daughter Penny is born she attempts to return to nursing to support her child. Instead she is diagnosed with tuberculosis and, separated from her baby, she embarks on a life and death struggle.

The reappearance of Charlie Davies, an old friend and recently returned serviceman, marks a turning point. They marry and he devotes himself to her recovery. Reunited with Penny they become a family and set out to share in the new life promised after the war. Struggles with shortages, bureaucracy, and ill-health hamper their efforts but Sonja emerges again a survivor.

A pacifist by inclination, Sonja finds her political strength amongst women and comes to public attention as one of the ring-leaders of a 1955 “sit-down” protest on a railway line threatened with closure – a protest that scandalised the nation but awakened in Sonja the knowledge that efforts of the individual could make a difference.

A survivor, who knew that mere survival was not enough either for herself or the rest of society, Sonja Davies has lived her life believing everyone should share in both the Bread and the Roses.

“ In the ‘kill to watch’ category…faultlessly directed.”
- Neil Jillett, MELBOURNE AGE

“ Gaylene Preston’s richly textured adaptation of the early part of Sonja Davies life”
Bill Gosden