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

Valency Stirling has lived a life of submission. Controlled by a domineering mother and an over-opinionated family, she awakens on her 29th birthday resigned to dull existence. Her only escape - the Blue Castle of her imagination. But when an unexpected letter changes everything, Valency breaks the bonds of fear and finds purpose in a whole new life - a life that turns the Blue Castle of her dreams into a reality.

Orphaned cousins Jane and Lucilla, both 19, receive the exciting news that their guardian is at last allowing them to leave boarding school. But their rosy future is thwarted when they find he has made some bad investments and fled, leaving them with a cottage in the English countryside and a modest bank account.

Euripides's play follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and their remaining families taken away as slaves. It serves as an anti-war narrative as it highlights the suffering of the women left behind. The tragedy also calls attention to how women were treated as commodities in the past by showing how they were divided among the remaining men as spoils of war.

Set in New Orleans at the close of the 19th century, The Awakening follows Edna Pontellier, who, while vacationing with her husband and their two sons, finds liberation from her prudish behavior and repressed emotions and desires. At the coastal resort of Madame Lebrun, Edna struggles to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South.

Adam Bates, the Land King of Hartley, Indiana, rules his 16 children with a firm hand and a tight purse. All work tirelessly on the family farm until the sons, at 21, are given 200 acres of land with a house and barn (they pay the taxes while their father holds the deeds). The daughters, at 18, get a term at Normal School to train as schoolteachers, a position they hold until they marry. Kate, the youngest, has always bristled at her father's preference for his sons but eagerly awaits her chance for further education. Her father has other plans.

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 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.

Virginia Woolf's 1925 novel takes place over the course of a single June day in the lives of some very different Londoners: wealthy society hostess Clarissa Dalloway, who is preparing for a party; her old friend Peter Walsh, recently returned from India, whose proposal of marriage Clarissa rejected years ago; Septimus Warren Smith, a WWI veteran suffering from shell shock; and his Italian-born wife, Rezia, who is trying to care for him as best she can. Woolf's beautiful prose captures the minds and souls of these vivid characters.

Laura Temple faces the predicaments of many British middle-class wives and mothers living in country villages between the World Wars. Her too-large house, inherited by her husband Alfred, requires three servants to keep it running: generally unsatisfactory servants whom she is perpetually concerned will leave her employ for greener pastures, which they inevitably do. Her modest success as a short story writer helps augment their income but still, there is never enough money. She is a devoted mother to her two sons, although she shamelessly prefers one over the other. And she is deeply unhappy.

The one thing Mrs. Bennett most dearly wants is to see her five daughters settled. When wealthy bachelor Mr. Bingley moves in to nearby Netherfield Hall and takes an interest in her eldest daughter, Jane, her dream is almost within her grasp. Yet problems arise when Bingley’s friend, the prideful Mr. Darcy, meddles in their relationship, earning him the disdain of Jane’s sister, Elizabeth. However, Mr. Darcy can’t help finding a match in the intelligent, free-spirited Lizzy Bennett, despite her country manners.

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.

Portraits of generations of family members line a great hall in the lavish home of the Pentlands; a wealthy upper-class family who were among the first settlers in the fictional town of Durham, New England. Members of the family desperately try to keep their prestigious reputation alive while the world around them is changing. This classic novel by Louis Bromfield was published in 1926 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1927. His perspective of the social norms of his day is as relevant in today’s world as it was then, and his rich language shines just as bright.

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.

A prolific writer of Christian romances, Grace Livingston Hill also excelled in creating novels of suspense. These tales highlight three women who, through pluck and cleverness, strive to escape the menace that envelops them. (Of course, being GLH stories, there are always romantic possibilities!)

Constance Reid marries Sir Clifford Chatterley, Baronet, who comes home from the Great War grievously injured. He is paralyzed from the waist down and must rely on Constance for all his needs. Constance finds living in mining country formidable and depressing until she meets Sir Clifford's gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. They enter into an affair which makes Constance realize living with the mind alone is only half a life.

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.

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.

First published in 1909, A Girl of the Limberlost is a novel by American writer and naturalist Gene Stratton-Porter. This classic of Indiana literature is a sequel to Stratton-Porter's earlier novel Freckles. Wholesome, sensible, and beautiful, the heroine, Elnora, is also compassionate, self-reliant, and intelligent. Neglected by her mother, Elnora reaches through this hardship toward education, friendship, and love. There are no shortcuts and her hard work brings joy to herself and all those she loves.

Mia Rhodes created Ameritocracy to make it possible for anyone to become president. But as her online political competition races towards its finale, it’s poised to elect a Machiavellian manipulator with a winning smile, leaving Mia to wonder whether she’s changed anything at all. As the competition builds to its spectacular final debate in Washington, DC, Mia and her team must question everything they’ve done so far, and defeat a threat to democracy they had never imagined.

The year is 1980. On a former French Plantation east of Chanthaburi, a very exclusive gathering brings together five extraordinary women. Stories were their business, and Gilda was at the top of the heap. There wasn’t a war she hadn’t reported, a scandal she hadn’t uncovered or a bestseller list she hadn’t topped. The Whisky & Ink Ladies Drinking Society numbered only five at any one time, no boys allowed. Its meetings took place every two years. And Claude, daughter of the late Ava Wood, wants in. If things go right, she’ll be initiated into WILDS at the end of the visit.