GUTSY GIRLS
We
kick off Women’s History Month with two novels with adventure-seeking heroines
who defy the female norms of their day. Mable, a would-be writer who bemoans a
“humdrum” life with her schoolmistress sister, gets caught up with Mrs. Rattle
and the secret suffragist activities of her Ladies Reading Society. Betsy Balcombe
lives on St. Helena and when Napoleon is imprisoned in her family’s home, her
wit and spunk lead to a true friendship between her and the infamous emperor.
Staton
Rabin of Irvington writes screenplays and has had two novels published by
Simon & Schuster (the most recent being Black Powder). A third novel will
be published in 2007. Her 2004 book, Betsy and the Emperor, has been translated
into twelve languages and will be a movie starring Al Pacino. It has been named
a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age, an American Booksellers Association
Book Sense Pick for Teen Readers, and a Westchester’s Choice/Best Books for Teens
selected by Westchester YA librarians. Rabin has taught screenwriting at the HVWC
and elsewhere and has been a story analyst for Warner Bros. Pictures. She is a
Senior Writer for scr(i)pt.
Marthe Jocelyn of NYC and Stratford, Ontario, is the author-illustrator of several picture books and the author of three books about contemporary teens (The Invisible Day, The Invisible Harry, and The Invisible Enemy) and another work of historical fiction, Earthly Astonishments. Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril, and Adventure (Tundra Books, 2004) was inspired by Jocelyn’s grandmother’s journals, but Jocelyn made her heroine “witty and undaunted,” not like her pious grandmother. It won the 2005 TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.
Suggested Donation: $5 ($3 for HVWC members and those under age 18)
The readings at the HVWC are made possible in part by a grant from the Bydale Foundation; the David G. Taft Foundation; the Orchard Foundation; and the Thendara Foundation; with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and by Westchester Arts Council with funds from Westchester County Government, corporations and individuals.