FEBRUARY 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Tavia Gilbert transports listeners with this engaging short story collection honoring the American women's suffrage movement. The stories recount the lives of women, children, and men over the course of a fateful day in 1915. Lisa Wingate, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and other contemporary authors illuminate their characters' aspirations, frustrations, and hopes, alongside issues of classicism, racism, and sexism pervading the era. Gilbert's vocal versatility provides rich characterizations for both fictional and actual people who range from Irish, Hungarian, and Armenian immigrants to artists, students, orphans, and well-heeled widows. Discrimination and exclusion experienced by historical figures like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, in “American Womanhood,”are juxtaposed with stories featuring privileged white activists. These thoughtfully composed and performed tales provide meaningful connections between the past and today's listeners. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
08/17/2020
This engrossing collection, pegged to the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, brings together 12 prominent fiction writers, including Chris Bojalian, Paula McLane, and Christina Baker Kline, all of whom contribute stories set on Oct. 12, 1915, when suffragettes marched on Fifth Avenue. In an introduction, Kristen Hannah argues that women’s push for the right to vote remains timely: “The ability to vote, and to access the polls, are fights we still face.” Many of the stories feature historical figures such as Alice Paul and Ida B. Wells, both of whom appear in Jamie Ford’s “Boundless, We Ride” and Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s standout, “American Womanhood,” each of which dramatize the bitter political compromises that would marginalize Black women from the movement’s ranks. Another highlight is Alyson Richman’s “A Woman in Movement,” about a young artist who gets her comeuppance after her advertising agency boss signs her drawings with his own name. Davis’s “The Last Mile” best drives home the collection’s overarching message: “Perhaps all these women, no matter which branch of the organization they supported, were part of a giant wave, one set to topple the status quo.” As a whole, the anthology gives assured voice and intriguing dimension to the actors of a pivotal era. (Oct.)
From the Publisher
As we approach the 100th anniversary of the first time women voted in a presidential race, how fitting it is to read short stories that illuminate one event that helped women achieve that right: a historic women’s march in New York City in 1915. This book‘s collection includes authors whose work I devour—from Dolen Perkins-Valdez to Chris Bohjalian to Christina Baker Kline—and here they are, all in one place.”
—Tori Whitaker for Parade Magazine
"A landmark 1915 protest for women’s suffrage is the setting for the dozen short stories in this rousing anthology...A diverse range of vivid characters brings human faces to a historical protest march."
—Kirkus Reviews
“[Stories From Suffragette City] gives assured voice and intriguing dimension to the actors of a pivotal era.”
—Publishers Weekly
Library Journal
10/23/2020
On October 23, 1915, more than 25,000 women marched up Fifth Avenue in New York City, demanding the right to vote. These stories from a dozen best-selling authors all take place on that historic day and highlight the large and small battles women fought for their rights. Mingling fact and fiction, the stories feature wholly imagined characters along with historical figures such as Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Charles and Katrina Tiffany, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Dolen Perkins-Valdez's story "American Womanhood" depicts the conflicted feelings of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, as she reflects on a previous suffrage parade in which she courageously defied orders to march at the back with the other Black women. Chris Bohjalian's "Just Politics," about an Armenian refugee marching in the parade, is a moving story that still resonates today. The rest of the collection offers tales of poignant glimpses into different perspectives of the women's movement, from wealthy socialites to women of color to young girls. VERDICT This nuanced collection serves as an evocative reminder of the hard-fought right for women to vote and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.—Melissa DeWild, Comstock Park, MI
FEBRUARY 2021 - AudioFile
Narrator Tavia Gilbert transports listeners with this engaging short story collection honoring the American women's suffrage movement. The stories recount the lives of women, children, and men over the course of a fateful day in 1915. Lisa Wingate, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and other contemporary authors illuminate their characters' aspirations, frustrations, and hopes, alongside issues of classicism, racism, and sexism pervading the era. Gilbert's vocal versatility provides rich characterizations for both fictional and actual people who range from Irish, Hungarian, and Armenian immigrants to artists, students, orphans, and well-heeled widows. Discrimination and exclusion experienced by historical figures like Ida B. Wells-Barnett, in “American Womanhood,”are juxtaposed with stories featuring privileged white activists. These thoughtfully composed and performed tales provide meaningful connections between the past and today's listeners. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
