Synopses & Reviews
An exploration of classic heroines and their equally admirable authors, The Heroine's Bookshelf shows today's women how to tap into their inner strengths and live life with intelligence and grace.
Jo March, Scarlett O'Hara, Scout Finch—the literary canon is brimming with intelligent, feisty, never-say-die heroines and celebrated female authors. Like today's women, they placed a premium on personality, spirituality, career, sisterhood, and family. When they were up against the wall, authors like Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott fought back—sometimes with words, sometimes with gritty actions. In this witty, informative, and inspiring read, their stories offer much-needed literary intervention to modern women.
Full of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, The Heroine's Bookshelf explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Jane Eyre and Lizzy Bennet can encourage women today.
Each legendary character is paired with her central quality—Anne Shirley is associated with irrepressible "Happiness," while Scarlett O'Hara personifies "Fight"—along with insights into her author's extraordinary life. From Zora Neale Hurston to Colette, Laura Ingalls Wilder to Charlotte Brontë, Harper Lee to Alice Walker, here are authors and characters whose spirited stories are more inspiring today than ever.
Review
“[A] delightful guide to what the heroines of some of the great novels by women writers, and those writers themselves can teach us about life.” Beatrice.com
Review
“If youre stumped for your next pleasure book and want to submerse yourself in a literary past sprinkled with powerful, independent women like Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott, Blakemores book provides the perfect portal.” New York Press
Review
“Blakemore finds comfort and inspiration in revisiting the tales of literatures leading ladies and exploring the lives of the women who spun them. [She] makes a charming case for rereading.” Washington Post
Synopsis
In this compelling book of beloved heroines and the remarkable writers who created them, Blakemore explores how the pluck and dignity of literary characters such as Scout Finch and Jo March can inspire women today.
Synopsis
What happened off the page was often a lot spicier than what was written on it...
Why did Norman Mailer stab his second wife at a party? Who was Edith Whartons secret transatlantic lover? What motivated Anaïs Nin to become a bigamist?
Writers Between the Covers rips the sheets off these and other real-life love stories of the literatisome with fairy tale endings and others that resulted in break-ups, breakdowns, and brawls. Among the writers laid bare are Agatha Christie, who sparked the largest-ever manhunt in England as her marriage fell apart; Arthur Miller, whose jaw-dropping pairing with Marilyn Monroe proved that opposites attract, at least initially; and T.S. Eliot, who slept in a deckchair on his disastrous honeymoon.
From the best break-up letters to the stormiest love triangles to the boldest cougars and cradle-robbers, this fun and accessible volumepacked with lists, quizzes and in-depth exposésreveals literary historys most titillating loves, lusts, and longings.
Synopsis
A testament to inspirational women throughout literature, Erin Blakemores exploration of classic heroines and their equally admirable authors shows todays women how to best tap into their inner strengths and live life with intelligence, grace, vitality and aplomb. This collection of unforgettable characters—including Anne Shirley, Jo March, Scarlett OHara, and Jane Eyre—and outstanding authors—like Jane Austen, Harper Lee, and Laura Ingalls Wilder—is an impassioned look at literatures most compelling heroines, both on the page and off. Readers who found inspiration in books by Toni Morrison, Maud Hart Lovelace, Ursula K. LeGuin, and Alice Walker, or who were moved by literary-themed memoirs like Shelf Discovery and Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, get ready to return to the well of womens classic literature with The Heroine's Bookshelf.
About the Author
Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Rendon have worked at Penguin, Random House, HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Macmillan, and Hyperion. Rendon lives in London; Schmidt is a committed peripatetic, currently traveling the U.S. by RV.