"Well-behaved women seldom make history" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

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	• On Account of Conspicuous Women: A Novel Dawn Shamp Thomas Dunne Books, 2008 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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"Well-behaved women seldom make history" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

In 1920 following her beloved dropping dead, Widow Ina Fitzhugh moves from Virginia to teach school in Roxboro in Person County, North Carolina. Three natives worry that the out of towner will disparage their community. Guerine Loftis, Doodle Shuford and Bertie Daye hope to sell Ina on the merits of living in Roxboro.

During her first year in town, Ina often thinks about how much she left behind to live in this backwater town. Still she makes tentative friends with the three women. However each has their own goals that they pursue, which has the four females still somewhat friendly but drifting apart.

This tale starts off a bit slow as the audience meets the four females, but picks up some speed once the fearsome foursome get together. The story line is a historical period piece that provides a deep look at a by gone era in the rural south when sophisticates from Virginia were considered foreigners and suffragettes like Bertie at a minimum eccentric. Readers who enjoy a leisurely character driven tale will appreciate this engaging glimpse at four women in the post WWI North Carolina summed up by the opening quote: "Well-behaved women seldom make history" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

Harriet Klausner

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The debut of a great talent!

From the first page of this wonderful book, I was "swept into the beautiful dream" as John Gardner would have said and right into the story of Bertie, Guerine, Ina and Doodle and didn't want to leave.

Bertie has a lot of gumption and is not afraid to speak her mind and fight for her beliefs, working to give a voice to those who have none. Guerine is an inspiration, who "built herself on a firm foundation of parental neglect," (one of my favorite sentences of all-time) but never lets that get in her way; instead she looks deep into her heart to find the strength she needs. Ina, who finds the courage to make a life for herself that she never expected after a personal tragedy leaves her broken-hearted, and Doodle, whose heart and hands bare the scars of her difficult life and survivor spirit.

A survivor spirit is what unites these characters. Dawn Shamp is a very talented writer who seamlessly weaves the narrative from four different points of view without ever losing the continuity of the story or the integrity of her characters.

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Welcome to Roxboro, North Carolina, a crossroads hamlet where, in 1920, tobacco and bootleg liquor thrive and most folks seem to agree that women are meant to know their place. But four extraordinary, determined young ladies are about to leave their boot prints on this small Southern town, and nothing will ever be the same.

Bertie, a hello-girl for Wheeler?s Telephone Company and the only woman in Person County to own a Model T, is staunch in her support for female suffrage, and has an opinion on everything, including church, Negro rights, matrimony, and men, and considers every one of those opinions worth listening to.

Bertie?s cousin Guerine, perpetually engaged to her former desk-mate from their school days, believes there?s no problem that can?t be solved by either a fashionable dinner party or something ordered from the back of a women?s magazine. Her attempts at cooking and entertaining are legendary.

Doodle is the quiet farmer?s daughter who can usually be found in men?s overalls, feeding her handmade dumplings to her prize-winning geese. When her father passes away, leaving her with a shocking secret, Doodle discovers there?s more to life than livestock . . . maybe even love.

Newcomer Ina is a pampered debutante, a Virginia blue blood who seems far too glamorous to be teaching in Person County?s one-room schoolhouse, especially swathed in a cloud of tragedy: Her beloved husband dropped dead on their New York honeymoon.

When these four very different ladies come together in friendship, facing struggles and earning triumphs, they realize that they can achieve almost anything. These delightful, conspicuous women will steal your heart and inspire your soul.

On Account of Conspicuous Women is a wonderful tale of human nature, Southern gentility, and great social change in a small town. With her brilliant debut novel, Dawn Shamp has captured perfectly a slice of 1920s life that is still relevant today, and she has crafted a marvelous world you won?t want to leave.

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