num_pages: 239
description: From a top-notch emerging writer with a crisp and often poetic voice and wily intelligent humor (The Boston Globe): a collection of stories that explores the lives of talented gutsy women throughout history.The fascinating lives of the characters in Almost Famous Women have mostly been forgotten but their stories are burning to be told. Now Megan Mayhew Bergman author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise resurrects these women lets them live in the reader's imagination so we can explore their difficult choices. Nearly every story in this dazzling collection is based on a woman who attained some celebrityshe raced speed boats or was a conjoined twin in show business; a reclusive painter of renown; a member of the first all-female integrated swing band. We see Lord Byron's illegitimate daughter Allegra; Oscar Wilde's troubled niece Dolly; West With the Night author Beryl Markham; Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister Norma. These extraordinary stories travel the world explore the past (and delve into the future) and portray fiercely independent women defined by their acts of bravery creative impulses and sometimes reckless decisions.The world hasn't always been kind to unusual women but through Megan Mayhew Bergman's alluring depictions they finally receive the attention they deserve. Almost Famous Women is a gorgeous collection from an accomplished writer of short fiction (Booklist).
language: None
title: Almost Famous Women: Stories
publisher: Scribner