This Isn't New: Women's Historical Stories
Formats: E-Book, Paperback
Ages: 18+
An 1880s theologian. A 1940s high school principal. A 1970s, first-ever-anywhere (she’s pretty sure) female take on Bozo the Clown.
In this collection, Cynthia Swanson explores the lives of nine women, including several ancillary figures from Swanson’s beloved, bestselling novels. Covering more than a century of American history and landscapes, these stories examine recognizable struggles: gender presumptions, body image, gaslighting, and abuse, among others. The women’s lives differ from one another, but they share a singular trait: their sex dictates the expectations stamped onto them. Each woman, in her time, must fight for who she is against the forces working to constrain her.
This Isn’t New asks: What can uniquely female history teach us about our own lives—and how can the power of story inform our choices going forward?
Reviews
This Isn't New: Women's Historical Stories is a short story collection about women’s lives and experiences that are set in different times from the late 1800s to the early 2000s. Each woman in these nine stories tackles a different issue that reflects the struggles of women in those eras. The collection opens with “In This World As In the Other,” in which Methodist minister Francine “Sometimes lives in a world where people take her ministry seriously.” One example lies in the story’s opening lines, which take place on the Easter Sunday after the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, during which she entreats neighbors to demonstrate their faith by helping one another and spreading the notion that God is still alive, purposeful, and relevant to their lives. Her ministry and leadership will guide her encouragement to others, her own religious questions, and her contrasting life in another world very different from the first. Contrast this inspection with “The Unlived,” in which Claire Miller is broken by her fifth pregnancy, the death of all of her male babies, and a doctor’s advice that she stop bearing children. As the story swirls around abortion, punishment, redemption, and a woman’s mandate to be a mother at any cost, it creates an important connection between Claire and another mother in a different situation, who consider that another force may be at work in determining their futures: Stella frowned. “I don’t believe in God but I do believe in karma.” Claire, who did believe in God but sometimes questioned His motives, said, “I don’t know what that is.” “Karma,” Stella repeated. “The idea that everything happens because of something we do.” She met Claire’s eyes. “The idea that our choices determine our fate.” Spiritual, cultural, and gender issues arise in each woman’s life to influence its direction, introduce new concepts, and lead readers to think about the disparate roles women choose for their lives and in those around them. Libraries seeking literary women’s short stories that hold much contrasting material for book club discussions about beliefs, gender, and our ability to affect our future will find This Isn't New: Women's Historical Stories a thought-provoking, engaging collection.
