‘You think you know me, but you do not.’
What a delight! How wonderful it is to meander through the pages of this anthology, seeing some female literary legends presented as having such agency, stepping out of the background, becoming principals in their own stories.
‘If women had no part in writing the laws, then Sarah refused to be bound by them.’
Yes, Sarah (That Which Yields by Zachary Rosenberg), I hear you. And I’m sympathetic to Lady Godiva (Lady Godiva in the Garden by Christina Ladd) as well. But one of my absolute favourite stories is Beyond the Wall [Paper] by Miranda Jubb. Who wouldn’t want to see the narrator of ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ escape?
‘We were once like you. Trapped in a story not of our making, condemned to follow the same steps again and again. Enduring our tragic ends, time after time.’
I kept reading, through short stories and verse, enjoying the imaginative ways in which the various authors brought different literary women to life. ‘The Leopard Queen’ by Jack Fennell captivated me, as did Nelly Shulman’s ‘Madame’ in which Madame Bovary triumphs. And ‘Her Holiness’ by Jonathan Titchenal could well have made the world a better place. Before I finish, I’ll mention ‘Helen Highwater’ by Sadie Fox Curtis because Helen Burns (of Jane Eyre fame) surely deserves this imagined life.
If you have ever imagined different lives for your favourite female literary legends, then I think that you will also enjoy this imaginative anthology.
Who are the contributors? I am so glad you asked:
Atlin Merrick (editor), Ali Coyle, Ann S Epstein, Aparna Kapur, Ari Ochoa Contreras, Béatrice de Charmoy, Ceallach Stephens, Christina Ladd, Dana M Evans, Dannye Chase, George Ivanoff, J M Cyrus, Jack Fennell, Jesse Friend, Jonathan Titchenal, Joseph S Walker, Kenzie Lappin, Lena Ng, Melissa Coffey, Miranda Jubb, Narrelle M Harris, Nelly Shulman, Nhu Le, Patsy Pratt-Herzog, S M Lawson, Sadie Fox Curtis, Samir Sirk Morató, Sheryl Clough, Stacy Bierlein, Stephen D Rogers, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Yvonne Knop, Zachary Rosenberg.
‘How a story is told depends on who is doing the telling.’
Note: My thanks to Lindy Cameron and Improbable Press for providing me with a copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 
There’s a name among these contributors that I recognise” George Ivanoff is a prolific local author who writes children’s novels and I see from the review I wrote of his Gamers Trilogy that back in 2013 he had then written over 60 titles!
But I did not know that he also wrote for adults!
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It is a small, but versatile world in which we live 😉
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