I’m so excited to introduce my third book of historical weirdness and wonder, Unbecoming a Lady, due in bookstores everywhere March 2024 and available for pre-order now!
Allow me to introduce you to 18 remarkable women who triggered change in the world, but did so in the wrong way.
You’ve not heard of them, and if you have, you haven’t heard the full story. They weren’t pretty, graceful, or quiet, and so history didn’t know what to do with them.
MEET:
Aida – She produced, choreographed and starred in the first All-Black performances on Broadway, and she’s the reason you call an easy job “a cakewalk.” She also performed in minstrel shows in vaudeville, and a lot of people still don’t want to talk about that.
Carrie– She created the first battered women’s shelter in America, funded by her side hustle of throwing bricks at bar patrons and setting fires in saloons. It might not have been that way if she hadn’t believed her own daughter to be such damaged goods.
Lena– A teenage immigrant who made millions when she decided fat and pregnant women deserved to be seen in public. But even today her name (and you would recognize her name, if it weren’t for that 1905 bank typo) makes many women uncomfortable with their own bodies.
Aimee– She introduced joy and prosperity to Christianity and created the Foursquare Church. That along with building America’s first mega-temple and her owning one of the most popular radio stations in the country made her one of the ealiest super-celebrities. Which is actually quite stressful. And could explain she faked her own kidnapping, ran off with her (married) sound engineer, and paid another women (not enough) to take the fall while lying about it all under oath.
And many more women who did amazing things, but refused to fit in the clean and tidy spaces History allotted for amazing women. I wrote this book to celebrate the messy, blousy, loud and brilliant women who make people uncomfortable. The world needs them, and seldom says ‘thank you.’
Unbecoming a Lady Complicated and powerful women who were unbecoming as ladies, forever changing what ladies could become.
(Take a sneak peak inside to brilliant original illustrations by Lisa Jonte and historic curiosities galore, all popping with the attentive care of Simon Element’s brilliant design team. …All while kindly ignoring how bad I am at using WordPress’s editing software!)
And finally…here’s some places to Pre-Order!
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