A Short History of WomenA Short History of Women opens in England in 1915, at the deathbed of Dorothy Townsend, a suffragist and one of the first women to integrate Cambridge University. Dorothy's daughter, Evie, travels America after WWI and becomes a professor of chemistry at Barnard College. Decades later, following the death of her son, Evie's niece, also named Dorothy, defies the ban on photographing the caskets of soldiers killed in Iraq at Dover Air Force base, and is arrested. Both young professionals, Dorothy's daughters are embarrassed by their mother's activism and baffled when she leaves their father after 50 years of marriage. "Walbert's intricately layered novel examines the past 100 years with subtlety and wit... It's gripping, intense and powerful... Highly recommended for all contemporary fiction collections." - Library Journal. "Walbert's look at the 20th century and the Townsend family is perfectly calibrated, intricately structured and gripping from page one." - Publishers Weekly, starred |
