Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a special, month-long series on Pop! Goes The Reader in which we celebrate the literary female role models whose stories have inspired and empowered us since time immemorial. From Harriet M. Welsch to Anne Shirley, Becky Bloomwood to Hermione Granger, Her Story: Ladies In Literature is a series created for women, by women as thirty-nine authors answer the question: “Who’s your heroine?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!
About Jonah Lisa Dyer
Jonah Lisa Dyer is half of a marriage and writing partnership exceeding twenty years. Native Texans, Jonah Lisa and Stephen have made lots of amazing things together: the films Hysteria and Away & Back; a cozy home in the mountains of Idaho; a pact to always look for the good in the world; two exceptional human beings who love reading, laughing and pie as much as they do; and a novel being released this month! They hope to continue making things for a as long as they can.
Come on, you didn’t really think you’d get to the end of Her Story: Ladies in Literature without an Elizabeth Bennett tribute, did you? You’re too smart for that. It almost seems enough to blurt out, as Mr. Darcy does, “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you” and leave it at that. But there are two very specific reasons Lizzie is my heroine of choice.
She’s earthy.
Growing up I was the kind of girl who categorized trees based on their climbability. I lived my life outside as much as possible and was constantly covered in scrapes and bug bites. Why go somewhere in a car if you could ride your bike instead? You might not get there faster but the journey would be so much better. You would see things, meet people, breathe fresh air, maybe even get caught in a warm rain.
When I found Elizabeth Bennett I found someone just like me. She walked everywhere, in all kinds of weather, day and night, and without a care for how it left her clothes and hair. Her walking indicated a restless spirit that permeated the novel, and told me implicitly that the book was an exercise in discovery. A search. And while throughout the book she searches for many things, at root she searches for herself. Her place in the world. Whether my restlessness had me up a tree or biking down the middle of the road with my arms outstretched, I was doing the same thing.
She’s outspoken.
There’s an adage in stand-up comedy: Sometimes you don’t know where the line is until you cross it! In our society, men are allowed to cross the line and then step back if it turns out to be a mistake. Women and girls aren’t given that same latitude. We’re expected to occupy a smaller space, keep our toes behind the line, not mess up. Like so many girls, I chafed at that.
Elizabeth Bennett — careless, insouciant, bordering on rude — gives voice to her inner thoughts. She says what she thinks, and in giving expression to her thoughts and feelings she gave me permission to do the same, telling me it’s okay to have strong opinions and to express them. What you say might ultimately be a mistake but speak your mind anyway. It’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.
Lizzie Bennett inspires my deepest devotion because she does the thing I strive to do every day: remain true to myself, no matter the social or financial cost. In the end she gets what she wishes for, and deserves — love and happiness — precisely because she refuses to be anyone but herself. With Elizabeth Bennett as the North Star, a constant light keeping me on a constant heading, so have I.
Title The Season
Author Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer
Pages 326 Pages
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre & Keywords Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Re-Telling, Sports
To Be Published July 12th, 2016 by Viking Children’s
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository
A soccer star with Olympic dreams, Megan can’t believe her social climbing mother secretly entered her and her twin sister in the Dallas debutante season. Her bad attitude gets her on debutante probation: she’s got a month to prove she can be a proper Texas lady or she’ll get the boot and disgrace her family.
Trading her cleats for kitten heels, Megan waltzes into a full schedule of dazzling, extravagant parties. When she’s swept off her feet by the charming Hank Waterhouse, she starts to think being a deb might not be so bad (if only she didn’t have to contend with the backstabbing blonde and her billionaire boyfriend).
But that’s before Megan finds herself in the middle of a media-frezy-causing scandal, being humiliated in front of a dozen ten-year-olds, and getting punched in the face by another girl.
The Season has begun…but the drama is just getting started.
