The Female Persuasion

Thoroughly in sync with the American zeitgeist, Wolitzer’s latest novel optimistically explores female ambition and success through Greer Kadetsky, a college student who becomes a mentee of feminist icon, Faith Frank. Both an engrossing coming-of-age story and a keen examination of American womanhood, The Female Persuasion is an insightful, pleasurable read. Recommended By Lucinda G., Powells.com

It should come as no surprise that Meg Wolitzer's newest book is incredibly enjoyable. She tells a nuanced story well, filling it with clever sentences, witty observations, and compelling, fully realized characters. But more than that, it forces readers to ask themselves hard questions, to think critically about privilege, feminism, and their role in the world and society as a whole. What do we owe each other? And how much is enough? The Female Persuasion is a big, bright book, the kind of story you can lose yourself in! Recommended By Lauren P., Powells.com

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Interestings, an electric, multilayered novel about ambition, power, friendship, and mentorship, and the romantic ideals we all follow deep into adulthood, not just about who we want to be with, but who we want to be.

To be admired by someone we admire — we all yearn for this: the private, electrifying pleasure of being singled out by someone of esteem. But sometimes it can also mean entry to a new kind of life, a bigger world.

Greer Kadetsky is a shy college freshman when she meets the woman she hopes will change her life. Faith Frank, dazzlingly persuasive and elegant at sixty-three, has been a central pillar of the women’s movement for decades, a figure who inspires others to influence the world. Upon hearing Faith speak for the first time, Greer- madly in love with her boyfriend, Cory, but still full of longing for an ambition that she can’t quite place — feels her inner world light up. And then, astonishingly, Faith invites Greer to make something out of that sense of purpose, leading Greer down the most exciting path of her life as it winds toward and away from her meant-to-be love story with Cory and the future she’d always imagined.

Charming and wise, knowing and witty, Meg Wolitzer delivers a novel about power and influence, ego and loyalty, womanhood and ambition. At its heart, The Female Persuasion is about the flame we all believe is flickering inside of us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time. It’s a story about the people who guide and the people who follow (and how those roles evolve over time), and the desire within all of us to be pulled into the light.

"Sweeping yet intimate, Wolitzer’s timely saga places her characters at the heart of a new wave of feminism, one clinging to the old paradigms of protest while encompassing current politics of personal responsibility. In a complex web of friends, lovers, mentors, and rivals, Wolitzer compassionately and artfully discerns the subtle strengths at the core of these essential connections." Booklist, starred review

"An intricately woven and deeply layered story that follows women who connect, yearn, chase their ambitions, navigate structures of existing power while claiming their own, and who write their own stories — stories that ignite their imaginations and, sometimes, look vastly different from what they first planned." Southern Living

"This dazzling novel about embracing womanhood and ambition is a timely read… Electric."

"As we look more toward feminist role models, The Female Persuasion reigns. Wolitzer’s ability to write nuanced female relationships makes her the perfect author to take on this topical-yet-eternal tale." Book Riot

"Wolitzer is one of those rare novelists who is able to capture the zeitgeist… A master weaver of story lines." The Millions

"Finally, a novel about a complicated relationship that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: that between mentor and mentee. Full of Meg Wolitzer’s signature acumen and insight." Esquire

"Much has changed in the feminist movement, and for all women… and this book observes those changes with a gimlet eye." Time

"Symphonic… The perfect feminist blockbuster for our times." Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Ambitious and satisfying…This insightful and resonant novel explores what it is to both embrace womanhood and suffer because of it." Publishers Weekly, starred review

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. She is also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar. Wolitzer lives in New York City.

I loved to write from the time I was very young. My mother, Hilma Wolitzer, who is also a writer,  encouraged me; and I had a teacher who invited me up to her desk in first grade to dictate stories to her that she would write down. I also told myself a serial novel on the way to school, about two brothers who were heirs to the Kraft Cheese fortune...

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