Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World's First Female Sports Superstar

by Sasha Abramsky

“Masterfully captures the life of this little-known sportswoman, a versatile female athlete comparable to Babe Didrikson Zaharias.” —Booklist (starred review)Lottie Dod was a truly extraordinary sports figure who blazed trails of glory in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Dod won Wimbledon five times, and did so for the first time in 1887, at the ludicrously young age of fifteen. After she grew bored with competitive tennis, she moved on to and excelled in myriad other she became a leading ice skater and tobogganist, a mountaineer, an endurance bicyclist, a hockey player, a British ladies’ golf champion, and an Olympic silver medalist in archery.In her time, Dod had a huge following, but her years of distinction occurred just before the rise of broadcast media. By the outset of World War I, she was largely a forgotten figure; she died alone and without fanfare in 1960.Little Wonder brings this remarkable woman’s story to life, contextualizing it against a backdrop of rapid social change and tectonic shifts in the status of women in society. Paving the way for the likes of Billie Jean King, Serena Williams, and other top female athletes of today, Dod accepted no limits, no glass ceilings, and always refused to compromise.“Eighty-five years before Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs fought the ‘battle of the sexes,’ a Victorian teenager showed what women could do . . . [Abramsky] celebrates her as a brave and talented and determined original.” —The Atlantic

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Biography Memoir, Womens

309 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 26, 2021

About the author

Sasha Abramsky studied politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University. He is now a freelance journalist and senior fellow at Demos who reports on political personalities and cultural trends.

His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, The Nation, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Guardian, and Mother Jones, among other publications.

He lives in Sacramento, California.

Reviews

[Olive Fellows (abookolive)]

Lottie Dod (1871-1960) was a British tennis prodigy, golf champion, and all-around athlete. At the tender age of 11, she began challenging adults and “leaving their tennis in tatters.” By age 21, she had racked up five Wimbledon wins; her first win at age 15 earned her the still-unbroken record for youngest ladies’ singles champion. Her story is chronicled in “Little Wonder: The Fabulous Story of Lottie Dod, the World’s First Female Sports Superstar” by Sasha Abramsky.

Read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that gives you a window into a time period that you may not otherwise read about: Victorian England. The book follows the life and accomplishments of Lottie Dod, one of the first female athletes to compete in an otherwise all male world (Wimbledon, the Olympics, Mountaineering). She's spunky and never stops moving. She was also from the upper class, privately tutored, and had the means to travel the world just for the fun of it. The author acknowledges her privilege and gives us perspective. He's also British and incorporates a dry sense of humor throughout. If you like tennis or are interested in sports history, I think you'd like this book. It's definitely heavy on research and facts, not as much a narrative as other biographies. I loved following Lottie from England, to the Italian Alps, to the remote peaks and fjords of Norway, where she and her friends hiked on glaciers with nails sticking out from the soles of their shoes to keep from slipping!

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you don’t know Lottie Dod, you should. She is the Babe Didrikson of the late 1800s. She won Wimbledon five times, but retired in her early 20s, at her peak. She then took up ice skating, bicycling, mountain climbing (notching first ascents and first winter ascents of several peaks), field hockey (playing on the British national team), golf (winning the British Open) and ultimately archery (winning the Olympic silver medal). She found satisfaction in conquering a new sport (a passion made possible by her wealth and privilege), but grew tired of it once greatness was achieved.

This book gets lost in the weeds, spending too much time on historical context and uninteresting details, like pages dedicated to which concertos her church choir sang. There is much lost to history, so I believe the author felt compelled to include every detail he found. This is a 2.5* rounded up, because Lottie’s sporting career is astounding and unmatched.

[Roberta Collyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars for the content of this book - why does no one know who this amazing woman is?

it did however get dull in places and the writing didn’t engage me as much as it should have! this is a book about an insanely talented female athlete mixed with the war and strong ideals of feminism yet I was bored sometimes 🙈🚽💩sorry

[Scott Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite watching tennis religiously throughout my life, I did not know the name of Charlotte “Lottie” Dod. She was a five-time winner of Wimbledon in the late 1800s. But she was more than a mere tennis player. She was an ice skater, a tobogganist, a mountain climber, an endurance bicyclist, a hockey player on the English national team, a championship golfer, and an Olympic silver medalist in archery. Quite the resume. After her sporting days were through, she ventured into nursing during the world wars and into singing in peacetime.

With all of those accolades, why don’t we know her name? Well, she’s a female and achieved in an era before video and electronic communication. In this biography, fortunately, Abramsky seeks to let us know a little more about her and to trumpet her legacy a bit.

The quality of his research shows throughout this work. Although source material is limited as almost all observers are deceased, he manages to paint a vivid narrative based on newspaper clippings, interviews with the Dod estate, and direct observations of scenery. In particular, his settings in England are impressively detailed. Although the reader sadly cannot see the quality of Dod’s tennis shots in motion, the pictures in the book and Abramsky’s back-stories paint as vivid a picture as can be expected.

Interestingly, the author writes as a lifelong tennis fan, not as a professional sports writer. Instead, by trade, he is a freelance writer in the field of politics. That background shows as he does not dwell on the feats of the body much. His writings’ strengths lie in setting, the human spirit, and interpersonal interaction. These unique qualities and eccentricities make this work even more enjoyable.

This work will be popular in the women’s-studies classroom as well as among female athletes. But the appropriate audience should also extend to fans of sport, regardless of gender. Dod’s “fabulous” story can inspire us to embrace life to the fullest and to seek ever greater heights in our own personal journeys. In history, Dod was not enamored with fame or money; rather, she sought to live a great life first and foremost. That lesson ought to teach us all.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

I made it to page 29 of this otherwise intriguing book, when I read these words, quoting the biography’s subject, “Pray do not call me Lottie. My name is Charlotte and I hate to be called Lottie in public.”

How is it that the (male) author could reproduce that piece of honesty about this spectacular person’s preference but then go on to subtitle the book “The fabulous story of Lottie Dod” — and, adding insult to belittling injury, make her *again* small and cute with LITTLE WONDER as the main title?!?!

I protest.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little Wonder from Sasha Abramsky recovers from obscurity the story of a true pioneer in both women's sports and in confronting restrictive roles for women during her life.

Lottie Dod has largely been forgotten for a number of reasons. While the single biggest is that she was a woman during a time when it was acceptable to openly "keep them in their place," it is also because of the lack of surviving documentation. I also think it is because she was so multi-talented that, while successful in pretty much every endeavor, she didn't stay in any one area long enough to make a sustained impact. Unfortunately those who succeed in many fields but don't stay in any one for a long time can be lost in the mist of time.

This very well researched biography wonderfully recaptures the times as a whole as well as Dod's own accomplishments. This is essential because on their own her actions are amazing but in light of the restrictions of society they become a phenomenal testament to her spirit and her talents.

Highly recommended for readers in the areas of sports and women's studies, and I think it would also be of interest to history buffs who enjoy the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers.

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the late nineteenth century, the first major amateur sports began to take over the imagination of the British middle and upper classes. The first true new sport was a revised version of the old indoor game called tennis. The new sport is played by men woman and mixed doubles,on a rectangular grass grass court. At Wimbledon a nation wide contest begins. Lottie wins the first of her five champion-ships at the age of fifteen, she will win it five times.

When she begins to get bored of tennis, she goes on to become a champion in ice skating, tobogganing and golf. In between to keep busy she becomes a world class mountaineer. In 1920 she goes on to win a gold medal in archery at the Olympic games. But after this she withdraws from competitive sport and spends the last forty years of her life as a recluse. This woman who had been the most famous woman in the world before World War 1, dies in total obscurity.

The book is written with an amazing amount of sociological writing of how woman were treated in the late Victorian era, even if they were better at what they did than most me.

[Kacey Lundgren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of Lottie Dod. She was amazing. I only wish the book had been better.

Pretty much every sentence starting with “Perhaps” or “Maybe” could have been removed. The author frequently inserted his own guesses as to what Lottie was thinking or feeling in a very overt attempt at seeming profound. The worst was a sexist assumption that a falling out Lottie had with a friend was due to a romantic rivalry.

The author also spent paragraphs upon paragraphs describing old photos. Some of these photos were included in a center spread, but the author wouldn’t direct the reader to its location if it was. It would have been so much better if the photo was included on the page where the author was describing it (and then then author could have just referenced the photo and not described it). More annoying was when the author spent paragraphs describing a photo and it wasn’t included in the book at all.

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why is there no major movie on Ms. Dod? This is a pretty incredible story. Mind you I found parts dull and the details of all the sporting events she took part in (I’m not a sports person), but couldn’t believe how many sports she excelled at. She still is the youngest tennis singles champion. When she got bored with tennis, she got involved with ice skating, mountaineering, toboggan, curling, golf, field hockey, and archery. She won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, played twice for the England women's national field hockey team (which she helped to found), and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery. Her story is incredible and more people need to know about her impeccable atheistic versatility. Her drive in a time when women were discouraged from sports—She did all this in corsets and long skirts while dealing with a chronic pain issue,

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book about an early female sports superstar. Full of great insight on the early days of women's tennis, golf and other sports. You learn about how women were not allowed and discouraged from competing in sports professionally. Lottie Dod was truly a superstar in so many ways.

[Leo Abramsky-Sze · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little wonder perfectly illustrates the sexism of the early 1880s and how one woman, through the avenue of sports broke this barrier down, why dont we know about her?

[Nann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tennis (Wimbledon five times). Mountaineering. Golf. Archery (Olympic-level). Volunteer nursing (WWI). Choral music. Charlotte Dod was an accomplished Victorian/Edwardian.

[Marylee Lannan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another from the library grab -n- go bag. Interesting story, with lots of conjecture.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I, like others, wonder why no movie has been made about Lottie

[Kea4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sounded like an interesting story but it’s just sooooooooo boring to read.
Tragic since it could have been really good. Interesting pictures.