Women Who Wrote: Stories and Poems from Audacious Literary Mavens

by Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë

This beautiful, giftable collection celebrates both the wisdom and tenacity of courageous women who defied society’s expectations and gifted the world with literary treasures through unparalleled fiction and poetry . We know many of their names--Austen and Alcott, Brontë and Browning, Wheatley, and Woolf--though some may be less familiar. They are here, waiting to introduce themselves. They wrote against all odds. Some wrote defiantly; some wrote desperately. Some wrote while trapped within the confines of status and wealth. Some wrote hand-to-mouth in abject poverty. Some wrote trapped in a room of their father’s house, and some went in search of a room of their own. They had lovers and families. They were sometimes lonely. Many wrote anonymously or under a pseudonym for a world not yet ready for their genius and talent. The Women Who Wrote softcover edition These women wrote to change the world. They marched through the world one by one or in small sisterhoods, speaking to one another and to us over distances of place and time. Pushing back against the boundaries meant to keep us in our place, they carved enough space for themselves to write. They made space for us to follow. Here they are gathered together, an army of women who wrote an arsenal of words to inspire us. They walk with us as we forge our own paths forward.

Genres: Classics, Nonfiction, Poetry, Short Stories, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, Books About Books

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 2020

About the author

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels Good Wives (1869), Little Men (1871) and Jo's Boys (1886). Raised in New England by her transcendentalist parents, Abigail May Alcott and Amos Bronson Alcott, she grew up among many well-known intellectuals of the day, including Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Alcott's family suffered from financial difficulties, and while she worked to help support the family from an early age, she also sought an outlet in writing. She began to receive critical success for her writing in the 1860s. Early in her career, she sometimes used pen names such as A.M. Barnard, under which she wrote lurid short stories and sensation novels for adults that focused on passion and revenge.
Published in 1868, Little Women is set in the Alcott family home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts, and is loosely based on Alcott's childhood experiences with her three sisters, Abigail May Alcott Nieriker, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott, and Anna Bronson Alcott Pratt. The novel was well-received at the time and is still popular today among both children and adults. It has been adapted for stage plays, films, and television many times.
Alcott was an abolitionist and a feminist and remained unmarried throughout her life. She also spent her life active in reform movements such as temperance and women's suffrage. She died from a stroke in Boston on March 6, 1888, just two days after her father's death.

Reviews

[Becky Ginther · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is basically a collection of short stories and poems from various female authors. There is a brief biography about each woman but it's pretty short, so the focus of this is really on their work and not on their lives (given the description of the book I was expecting more biography, but it was still interesting).

I listened to this as an audiobook which I have mixed feelings about. Some of it was great as audio, but I find poetry much more difficult to absorb just hearing it vs. when I'm reading it. And there were one or two short plays written in script format that were just odd to listen to done by 1 narrator.

I couldn't find a list anywhere of all the included authors so I made one for myself - hopefully I didn't miss anything. Here's everyone included as well as their work and occasionally some of my thoughts on it.

Jane Austen - a short story that is a number of letters. I enjoy Austen's satire and this was extremely over the top in that way. Funny in many parts, perhaps a bit too much in others.
Catherine Mansfield - "The Garden Party" - I found this to be an intriguing story
Louisa May Alcott - a short story about a selfish fairy. I found this one to be just okay and somewhat predictable with an obvious lesson.
Willa Cather - "A Golden Slipper" - a very interesting character piece that I quite enjoyed
Edith Wharton - a ghost story that I wanted to like but it just didn't quite hit the mark for me. I was intrigued by the ghost aspect but I felt like it got kind of lost in the details of her husband's disappearance, which involved a lot of business/law talk and interactions.
Zora Neale Hurston - Two short plays which had some interesting points to make but were a bit difficult to listen to rather than read.
Virginia Woolf - Kew Gardens - I remember studying this piece in college - it's a great sort of "slice of life" piece

Poetry
Emily Dickinson - a few of her classics, I'm a big fan of her poems
Gertrude Stein - I feel like her poetry needs a bit more studying/interpretation so I'd rather read them than hear them
Charlotte Bronte - I had never heard her poetry before but I really liked it
Emily Bronte - similar to her sister Charlotte
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper - has some powerful poems on racism
Edna St. Vincent Milay - some of the best love poems
Elizabeth Barrett Browning - many classics
Dorothy Parker
Phyllis Wheatley

[Kimberly Patton]

I don’t think I am the best reader for this book but I did manage to at least look over and try each selection. I think I learned more about these female writers but I didn’t love or even like most of the stories. My tastes are more modern and poetry is just so difficult to grasp. I wish I would have found more gems in this book but it was not for me! Glad to at least read the bios of some of these literary women and their place in history.

[Rikke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of short stories and poetry by some of the history's most acclaimed writers. Louisa May Alcott's fairy tales were a special treat – and I think I'm inspired to go hunting for more, which may be the ultimate success criteria for a collection such as this; making readers hungry for more.

[Kier Scrivener · Rating 4 out of 5]

My enjoyment reading this was unmatched. I love the biographies, the glimpses into the authors known and unknown. The way we have viewed them, forgotten them and revived them. I loved that we had many ubiquitous female authors and ones of less prominence. I also enjoyed the choice to give us poetry instead of prose for the Brontë's and that many of selections were lesser known works by the authors.

The first story was Love and Friendship by Jane Austen (1790) and this was an absolute delight. I love her work and this year brought reinvigoured love for Northanger Abbey, her earliest novel and Love and Friendship just brought all the young satitical and hilarious plots to the forefront. It might not be her most refined work but I couldn't stop smiling.

Our next was The Garden Party (1922), this was a reread from four years ago and I was glad to remeet it here. It has a lot to say on class and I stopped a few minutes in and my friend showed me Parasite which could not have been more apt. It explores the same central theme from a very different culture and time but both have the affluent further ignoring and understating the plight of the poor. In this one not deigning to cancel a party that is in earshot of a mourning family.

A Golden Slipper (1917), this one intrigued me as I had never read anything by Willa Cather before. It tells of a coal businessman who is pressured into going to an opera and then interacting with the singer afterwards. They discuss the 'frivolity' of art and his stingent beliefs. It made me immediately sign into my library to read one of her novels.

Lily-Bell and Thistledown | Little Annie's Dream, or The Fairie's Flower (1854) by Louisa May Alcott, I have read Little Women twice and from the autobiographical parts of Jo and her own history I know she has written many fantastical stories these specifically for Ralph Waldo Emerson daughter and published when she was twenty-one. They were not my tasts, the only real dudd throughout. They felt very out of place among the other stories and though I am all for childrens stories these ones read a little too moralistic. Bad fairy does bad things and then learns to be a good fairy. End of story. There was no greater themes and the writing was very straightforward.

Afterward (1910), this selection by Edith Wharton begins with a couple sojourning to London and not believing a house is old or prestigious enough until it has inadequate plumbing. As authenticity is in uncomfortably. They inquire a lot about ghosts, not wanting travel to see a ghost, a good proper house has at least one. The neighbours are sure to confirm there are ghost myths, you just aren't sure about a sighting for a long time after. It is blissfully satirical until it takes a dastardly turn.

Poker! is a short play by Zora Neale Hurston, followed by Lawing and Jawing, both published in 1931. As you might guess Poker! is about a group of men playing cards set against depression era New York. Even in play form, I could feel the atmosphere and scene in my head. Lawing and Jawing also appeared vividly in my mind. It is a play set in a court room, described as normal except for the left side having a large red arrow 'To Jail' it is a cutting examination of criminal justice and institutional racism.

Kew Gardens by Virginia Woolf (1919), set in a London Park we follow several groups of people as they pass the same flowerbed, having different wonderings and conversations. As someone who people watches and thinks too much on the people who step into your life for a moment, who walk by with their own life, sharing a path for only a moment. This embodies that. It takes a glance ar life not being the bird's eye overview but the quiet moments of life. And I really like her everyday approach.

It also seemed perfect as an ending to the prose section, as poetry began we see into a glimpse of the writer in a moment or an emotion.

Our first poet is none other than the elusive and ubiquitous Emily Dickinson. I have read her collected works and we only had a few here so I didn't have any strong opinions. For most of my life I avoided poetry, as I didn't care for nature and thought of that as the embodiment of verse. I recently read Mary Oliver and fell hard, so there is hope for me and Dickinson. But for now I like certain lines or stanzas but overall her poems don't stir anything in me.

Gertrude Stein might have claimed to inspire a generation of writers but for me her poetry didn't have any resonance. It felt suprisingly modern and inventive. Avant garde was her style though. But they left me wanting, even after relistening to them twice.

Charlotte Brontë leads the chase on Victorian and Bronte poetry, I liked these and I think if Ireaed them more I would like them more but they were a little stilted next to Anne's.

Anne Brontë's poetry was breathtaking, lyrical and poignant. I was deeply moved. When the others I had slowed and relistened to fully apperciate these I kept playing for their beauty and the tears just behind my lids.

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was the first I was not familar with, her name brought up some vague tugging but I knew no rendering of her. That she was a free Black Woman, and became the first Black woman to publish in the United States in 1845 at only twenty. All her poetry was powerful and I relistened several times, I copied out a few lines of Bible's Defense of Slavery:

Bring not to God's majestic throne
A mockery of praise
A reverent man whose light should be
The guide of age and youth
Brings to the shrine of slavery
The sacrifice of truth

//Need I say more?


Edna St. Vincent Millay, her biography begins with saying she preferred Vincent but when she published under E. Vincent Millay and was reviewed as a man she changed course. She may like a male name but she would not be stripped of her femininity. She wrote in traditional rhyme about untraditional themes. Honest about her love of men and women, her husband a self proclaimed feminist stayed home so that she could be a writer. They were flippant, funny and beautiful.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, there is a reflection hat we sometimes forget the revolutionary of Browning in the face of progression. That in her time a woman publishing, a woman frankly stating her love was revolutionary. Her poetry is a little too saccharine for me but I will return at some point and give her a much more fair chance.

I know Dorothy Parker through the Portable Dorothy Parker but couldn't name an individual work by her. Which I don't know is true of another author. This included Parties Bring Out The Worst In Me and I Loved Them Until They Loved Me, both were sardonic and funny and gave me Gatsby vibes. She was a contemporary of Fitzgerald but feels more modern. (Aside quoted Gatsby's funeral line at Fitzgerald).

Phillis Wheatley, I came upon her story a few months ago so I was glad to read a selection of her poems. Earliest here. Writing from a very different lenspoint than Austen. She was educated by her masters, and put on trial when she tried to publish, people not believing a person enslaved could write poetry. It is interesting to see the difference between her and Harper born fifty years apart.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I only wish the biography sections were longer! We got very little details about their lives and while it didn’t have to be chapters long I would’ve liked at least 10 pages on the authors themselves!

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. One of my favorite parts was the mini bios on each author before the selection of their work.

[Lisa Penninga · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this collection, both stories and poems, to express why and how women wrote. They paved the road for future female authors and exposed the contradictions and inferior treatment of women. They also wrote with fire!!! It’s a beautiful collection of my favorites! It was a gift from a student, and I will keep it on my shelf at home to reference again!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not ready for so much bisexual and woc representation but I’m here for it! A short anthology of poems and short stories written by women — and a great way to discover more works by classic female authors without committing to a full book (I will definitely be picking up some Edith Wharton and Francis Ellen Watkins Harper the next time I go book shopping).

[Gemington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neat idea but awkward execution. Some stories were great but they were not really thematic. The biographies were fascinating but too short. Often the bios prompted us to think about the women beyond their best known works, but then the selections were more or less in alignment with or actual reproductions of their best known works.

[L M Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the summary and work of these authors I have always wanted to read

[Janet Bufton · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Audiobook, Nelson Audio)

A collection of lesser-known (at least to me) short stories, plays, and poems by female authors, each following a brief introduction about the woman who wrote them.

I'd not heard of any of the pieces by authors I had heard of and the book introduced me to some authors, too. I thoroughly enjoyed every piece included. And the narrators for the audiobook were stellar.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the short biographies and sample of work from some of my favorite authors and some authors who were new to me.

[Dawna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection of short stories, poems & a play of lesser known works by some of our most beloved women authors. What brave & brilliant pioneers they were. The short biographies of each author highlights some of the struggles & opposition they faced, why they chose to write, & what empowered & inspired them. Some of the inferior treatment of women & contradictions of society toward them are exposed through their work. They certainly paved the road for future female authors & continue to give inspiration to all women. I wish more readers had experienced this book.

[Corbin Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Willa Cathers Gold Slipper is now my new favorite short story.

Loved the excerpts and poems, but felt a little empty handed in the end. The synopsis and title implied a heavier focus on the authors themselves, but instead they each had one page or a few paragraphs briefly describing their uniqueness and challenges. It did have a nice focus on some lesser known authors and works, which was appreciated. 😊

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not what I expected based on the synopsis about the book; I wish it had been more about the authors themselves. I liked the little openings before each work about the author’s life. It gave good perspective to their writings. I did like getting to read some of their lesser known works. So it was a good read, just not what I expected.

[Mary José · Rating 4 out of 5]

Siento que para algunas autoras hubiera seleccionado otras obras, sobretodo si es un libro que busca te acerques y descubras sus trabajos., sin embargo los cuentos de hadas de Louisa May Alcott y la historia de Edith Wharton fueron mis preferidas. En la parte de los poemas los poemas de Edna St. Vincent Millay fueron un gran
descubrimiento.

[Deb Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read, rather than listened to this collection of female literary authors. I was acquainted with some, but this expanded my exposure beyond their well known works. I love poetry and enjoyed the sampling selected by this author.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great selection of writers throughout history, including some I'd never heard of before! "Afterward" by Edith Wharton was chilling in the best way. I also adored the Bronte sisters' poetry and hope to read more of them in the future. 5 stars!

[Mike'ala Gannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting breakdown of some of literatures most amazing female writers. Including some poems and short stories by them along with biographical content, it really helped me to understand the background of these revolutionary women.

[Amy K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a literary form of speed dating with some of the most recognized and some lesser known female writers. I enjoyed the teaser bios followed by the author's shorter works. Listening to this audio book has piqued my interest in learning more about these ladies and in reading their work.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth it if only to read the first entry - a short story by Jane Austen called “Love Friendship.” It was absolutely, ridiculously, intelligently hilarious. If I could go back in time, I’d love to listen to Austen read this aloud amongst her friends and relations. They likely roared.

[Sydney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely tore through this; loved the Cather and Wharton short stories especially. The Alcott stories were painful to get through, though, and felt out of place in an adult anthology. And I felt like the editors were hammering the "smash the patriarchy!" narrative a little too hard.

[Anna Rozova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly a lovely collection. I didn't understand the point though in first describing Mary Loise Alcott as "so much more than sentimental Little Women" and then including two most saccharine stories ever.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Pam Erickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great idea. A short biography and a few selections from some influential women writers.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

#womenshistorymonth2021
Loved these unfamiliar stories & poems. My favs:

Catherine Mansfield - "The Garden Party"
Willa Cather - "A Golden Slipper"
Edith Wharton - "Afterword" - Wow!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s hard to rate collections, because some of the stories and poems I liked, and some I didn’t.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fabulous being exposed to writers from around the world, representing intersectionality.

[Hana Faber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed bag, but still 4 stars because I shouldn't expect anything less from an anthology +WWJD (what would Jane do?)

[Casey Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection!
Love how mould-breaking these women were, and how so many of them were bisexual when that was extremely dangerous at the time! Ballers.