Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Women's Fiction

These stories were carefully chosen to reflect what life was once like for women—before the fight for rights was won. Let these stories reveal to this new generation, how it felt to live with oppression and fear, with no hope of real freedom. Take a journey from 1892 to 1921 through fictional stories, to understand the need for constant vigilance in striving for equal rights for all. Through the voices of Virginia Woolf, Willa Cather, Katherine Mansfield, Susan Glaspell, Charlotte P. Gilman, and Kate Chopin, let us never forget from whence we came.

Turned is a short story written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman in 1911. What would you do if you found out that your husband had cheated on you with the household help?

Lorelei is a rising star in Hollywood when she meets Mr. Eisman, a man who compliments her intelligence and convinces her it is much more important to be educated than to be in the cinema. Plying her with books, he encourages Lorelei to write down her adventures in a diary despite her penchant for misspellings and incorrect pronunciation. Growing restless with Mr. Eisman and his simplistic routine of dinner, dancing, and returning Lorelei to her apartment, she longs to stretch her wings and experience more of the world.

Samantha - the fashionable wife of a successful businessman and doting mother of one - struggles to negotiate the spheres of intimacy between her husband and her family of origin. Samantha loves her husband, Richard, and she loves her sister, Elizabeth. But the two of them can barely exist in the same room, which has caused the entire family years of emotional distress. Yet it's not until Samantha's sister is diagnosed at age 43 with lung cancer that her family and her marriage are tipped into full-blown crisis.

The Awakening, a novel by Kate Chopin, was first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism with themes that are still relevant today.

Two time periods. Two coasts. Lives intertwined and impacted forever. Greed, societal forces, religion, eugenics, and racial prejudice came together in a shameful and shocking way on a small, wooded island off the coast of Maine in the early 1900s. The atrocious events that occurred on Malaga Island continue to echo through the years. Their impact is felt in many ways and by many lives.

Life has never been easy for DonnaMae. After losing her mom as a young girl, she learns to navigate a world full of uncertainty with her dad and brother. Just when she begins to find her footing, a devastating betrayal from someone she trusted turns her world upside down.

In the 1930s, young women with big dreams came to New York City to pursue careers, meet men, and make friends. Charles "Lucky" Luciano, an Italian-American gangster, was one of the people who preyed on them. This fictionalized first-person account of a girl from a small town in the northeast US details how she became ensnared in the party circuit and eventually worked as a prostitute in Luciano's houses.

The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound is the third installment in the charming young adult series by Laura Lee Hope, best known as the author of The Bobbsey Twins. First published in 1914, this delightful story continues the adventures of sisters Ruth and Alice DeVere, along with the spirited crew of the Comet Film Company, as they navigate the early days of silent filmmaking. In this volume, the company journeys to a remote lodge in upstate New York to capture picturesque winter scenes for their latest motion picture.

Over the course of 47 years, Victorian writer Margaret Oliphant produced 120 novels, biographies, and histories, as well as hundreds of essays and book reviews. "She was of an intellect so alert," wrote J. M. Barrie, "that one wondered if she ever fell asleep." Widowed young, she was the sole support of her children and her nieces, whom her brother had abandoned: a powerful impetus for her prodigious output. The two novels included here reflect the difficulties that Victorian wives had when their lives took unexpected turns.

Sixteen-year-old Maya is no stranger to grief when the pandemic hits America. Alone and adrift, she embarks on a healing journey, discovering unlikely bonds and her first taste of love amidst the chaos. Thirty-five-year-old Ashley grapples with the aftermath of a painful breakup and finds herself drawn to a man whose presence ignites a flicker of hope within her wounded soul. LaRue is a seventy-five-year-old widow who discovers solace in sewing masks for her community until tragedy strikes close to home. Forced to confront her vulnerability, she reluctantly embraces the support of others.

Ramona Ortegna, the foster child of Señora Moreno, is much loved by all who live and work at the Moreno ranch, except Señora herself, who cannot bring herself to think of the girl as anything but a mixed-blood child. Half white, half Indian, Ramona had been adopted by the Senora’s sister who then entrusted the child to her upon her death. Already embittered by the loss to the Americans of much of her southern California land as the result of the 1846 Mexican-American War, the pious old woman is also distraught by the near destruction of California’s Catholic missions.

Eleanor H. Porter’s most famous literary creation is Pollyanna, but she isn’t the only precocious young girl to spring from the author’s pen. Mary Marie Anderson describes herself as “a cross-current and a contradiction", the offspring of incompatible parents who couldn’t even agree about her name. When the two divorce when she is thirteen, Mary Marie is delighted since she’s always liked being different. None of the other girls have two homes and spend six months with each parent! Father will remain in their small town and mother will live in Boston with her family.

Sixteen-year-old Effie Martin is in trouble. No one in her family understands her, some mean girls refuse to invite her to their picnic, her clothes are a mess, and she's mad at the world. Impulsively, she hops on her bike and soon finds herself in the middle of a drama where she saves the day. Her heroic act becomes a turning point in her life.

MaryLou always has a plan. Born and raised in a small logging town in the Pacific Northwest with a family of all boys, her life is good. She’s got a great family, she gets to work on race cars with her dad, and she knows exactly what she wants for her future. Then she meets Dale, a mysterious older boy who races at the local track, and MaryLou realizes she can’t always get what she wants. As she learns to adjust her plans to accommodate life’s unexpected twists and turns, MaryLou finds happiness along the way.

After crashing into a devastating revelation, Cyd’s tranquil life on the Florida panhandle is further upended when she receives a letter announcing an inheritance from an estranged aunt. The inheritance contains mysterious “items of a personal nature” which Cyd must collect in person halfway across the country. In a last attempt to salvage her deteriorating marriage, Cyd agrees to travel with her husband on what he promises—and she questions—will be the trip of a lifetime. As they set out, a hurricane threatens their hometown.

It’s 1925. Crunched between the Victorian age, WWI, and the Great Depression, women have new freedoms in the Roaring 20s, but do they? Patricia’s husband wants a divorce. She’s still in love with him, but the relationship has turned toxic. Separated from Peter, she’s free to explore her new identity as a businesswoman in her 20s, single again and living in New York City.

Set against the glamorous backdrop of 1924 New York City, Patricia's marriage is a mirror of the era—fast-paced, boozy and free of restrictions that bound previous generations. But when her husband, Peter, fresh off his own one-night stand, demands a divorce due to her behavior, Patricia is left reeling. Ex-Wife is her story of reinvention—a journey into the wild, uncertain world of the "modern woman," rife with boozy nights, fleeting love affairs and fabulous fashion.