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 twenty-four 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 Meredith Moore
Meredith Moore graduated from Harvard University with a degree in History, focusing on early modern England and France. She lives in Houston, Texas, where she loves pumpkin spice lattes, 19th century British literature, and road trips. I Am Her Revenge is her debut novel.
My mom gave me the first three Anne of Green Gables books when I turned nine. She had loved the books when she was a kid, and she wanted me to love them, too. I still remember the hours I spent curled up in the reading corner of my room immersed in Anne’s world, enchanted by the beauty of Prince Edward Island, but even more by the worlds that Anne’s mind created. She was a girl of irrepressible imagination, and, as she would put it, my “kindred spirit.”
I was always imagining new worlds just beyond my own, concocting stories of fairies and gnomes and dragons that no one else could see. I was a quiet and shy girl, well-behaved, but I could imagine myself as someone daring and heroic in these fantasy lands. My mom continually encouraged me, plying me with books and urging me to write my own stories, just like Anne did. And Anne was ambitious: she worked hard to be at the top of her class, and so did I (though unfortunately I had no Gilbert Blythe to compete against). When I was a kid, Anne inspired me to let my imagination run wild, to study hard, and to read everything I could get my hands on. She was one of my biggest role models.
When I was in high school, my mom was diagnosed with cancer, but it went into remission. When it came back two years ago, I turned to those books again. I wanted to feel that same feeling I had when I was a young girl, that the power of my imagination could take me beyond my world. Or, at the very least, that I could escape for a little while. What I discovered was even more useful. Anne has a way of viewing the world that makes it shine a little brighter. She makes it seem full of hope and promise, even in the darkest of times. She tells her adopted mother, “Marilla, isn’t it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?”, like life can start over every morning. I could go to bed stressed and angry and heartbroken and wake up with a sense of resolve. With hope. Her optimism and wonder helped me get through one of the hardest periods of my life.
My mom lost her battle with cancer, but through her strong example and through the examples of the plucky heroines that she introduced me to as a child, I’ve come out on the other side of that grief. I’ll never stop being inspired by Anne Shirley, and I’ll forever be indebted to her for teaching me the power of my imagination and a sunny way of looking at the world.
Title I Am Her Revenge
Author Meredith Moore
Pages 336 Pages
Genre Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher Razorbill
To Be Published April 7th, 2015
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository
She can be anyone you want her to be.
Vivian was raised with one purpose in life: to exact revenge on behalf of her mother. Manipulative and cruel, Mother has deprived Vivian not only of a childhood, but of an original identity. With an endless arsenal of enticing personalities at her disposal, Vivian is a veritable weapon of deception.And she can destroy anyone.
When it’s time to strike, she enrolls in a boarding school on the English moors, where she will zero in on her target: sweet and innocent Ben, the son of the man who broke Mother’s heart twenty years ago.Anyone…except for the woman who created her.
With every secret she uncovers, Vivian comes one step closer to learning who she really is. But the more she learns about herself, the more dangerous this cat and mouse game becomes. Because Mother will stop at nothing to make sure the truth dies with her.
One Response
I LOVE Anne, Meredith, so it makes me so happy that you’ve chosen to feature her for this event! She’s such a spunky, smart, sassy gal, and I still admire her up until today 😉
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