A Short History of Women: A NovelNOMINATED FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE A profoundly moving portrait of the complicated legacies of mothers and daughters, A Short History of Women chronicles five generations of women from the close of the nineteenth century through the early years of the twenty-first. Beginning in 1914 at the deathbed of Dorothy Trevor Townsend, a suffragette who starves herself for the cause, the novel traces the echoes of her choice in the stories of her descendants—a brilliant daughter who tries to escape the burden of her mother’s infamy; a granddaughter who chooses a conventional path, only to find herself disillusioned; a great-granddaughter who wryly articulates the free-floating anxiety of post-9/11 Manhattan. In a kaleidoscope of characters and with a richness of imagery, emotion, and wit, A Short History of Women is a thought-provoking and vividly original narrative that crisscrosses a century—a book for "any woman who has ever struggled to find her own voice; to make sense of being a mother, wife, daughter, and lover" (Associated Press). |
Contents
London England 1914 | 19 |
Dover Delaware 2003 | 37 |
Cambridge England 1898 | 55 |
Wardsbury England 1914 | 69 |
GraysheadonHeath England 1919 | 83 |
Patagonia Argentina 2004 | 101 |
Cambridge England 1899 | 137 |
VJ Day New York City New York 1945 | 163 |
New York City New York 2007 | 177 |
Wardsbury England 1914 | 201 |
Dorothy Dora Louise BarrettDeel | 223 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alexandra asked Barnard College beneath bloody blue Brigid called Caroline says chair Charles Chester Chick says cigarette crack dark dead door Dora Maar Dorothy says Dorothy Trevor Townsend Dorothy's dress Elizabeth says Evie eyes Father Fairfield feel Florence Nightingale Fran says Francis Townsend Frank Peterson friends girls Girton glass Gramercy Park Grandmother hair hands Havelock Ellis hear heard Helen Hilde HISTORY of WOMEN James Jean says Kate Walbert kitchen knees knew legs listening live Liz says Liz yells look Madame Lane Matilda morning mother never night numbers Nurse once remember Richard Thorke SHORT HISTORY shouting Sissy smell smiles soldiers someone sorry stand stares Stephen Pope stop Susan T. S. Eliot talk tell There's thing thought told turned voice waiting walk wanted watch wears William window woman words write