From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.
Crisscross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.
With stories by:
J. Anderson Coats
Andrea Cremer
Y. S. Lee
Katherine Longshore
Marie Lu
Kekla Magoon
Marissa Meyer
Saundra Mitchell
Beth Revis
Caroline Richmond
Lindsay Smith
Jessica Spotswood
Robin Talley
Leslye Walton
Elizabeth Wein
Indiebound – Amazon – Barnes & Noble – Chapters – The Book Depository – Audible
I am so thrilled to be part of this wonderful, heartfelt, inventive anthology. When Jessica Spotswood approached me about contributing to an anthology about girls across the span of US history, I was ecstatic. I looked at a lot of different time periods, but ultimately settled on the homefront experience during World War II, about the City of Angels and how it became a city of women while all the men were at war. Evie came to Los Angeles seeking work as a screenwriter, but she finds something else entirely when she gets mixed up with the charismatic, larger-than-life Frankie, another girl at the airplane factory. Between building airplanes and gathering scrap metal for the war effort, they both have much to learn about women’s ever-changing roles in America and about themselves.
I’m still working my way through this anthology, but a few other standout stories I loved:
“Madeleine’s Choice” by Jessica Spotswood, an exploration of the quadroon balls and antebellum New Orleans life for the free people of color
“Rise of the Panthers” by Kekla Magoon, about a farmgirl in 1960s Indiana whose life is forever changed when the Black Panthers come through town
“The Red Raven Ball” by Caroline Richmond, as a debutante would rather hunt for Confederate spies at her grandmother’s fete than hunt for a spouse
“The Whole World Is Watching” by Robin Talley, chronicling a group of protestors taking a stand at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
“The Journey” by Marie Lu, a mystical voyage across pre-American Alaska under the watchful eyes of the Inupiat spirits
If you’re in the DC area, you can join Jessica Spotswood, Caroline Richmond, Robin Talley, and myself for a launch party on Friday, March 11th, at One More Page Books! For West Coasters, the University Bookstore in Bellevue is hosting J Anderson Coats, Marissa Meyer, and Leslye Walton tonight.