Suzann Ledbetter

First Line: "So," I've been asked repeatedly, "what *is* a shady lady?"

Shady Ladies is a series of light and breezy biographies of nineteen 19th century American women who weren't content with the norm. The biographies range from the familiar--Margaret "the Unsinkable Molly" Brown-- to the more obscure, and Ledbetter has done an excellent job in finding women who will whet our appetites for more.

My favorites?

Sara Parton, who left an abusive husband to become a successful novelist under the show more pen name of Fanny Fern.

Sara Knight Borginnis Bowman, who "stood at least six-two in her stockinged feet and tipped a feed scale at better than two hundred exceedingly top-heavy pounds" and had a tendency to discard husbands whenever she felt like it. Sara rose from camp follower to the proprietor of a "full service hotel" for soldiers during the war with Mexico.

Frances Benjamin Johnston, who was a photojournalist fifty years before they had a name for her profession.

And Lydia Pinkham, who made a fortune with her Vegetable compound. (Before you laugh, how many other elixirs first marketed in 1875 can still be purchased today on Internet drugstore sites?)

Ledbetter clears up misconceptions concerning the more well-known figures, and brings others to life who had been long buried in the sands of time. I love reading about anyone who bucks the trend, and the author provides a bibliography for further reading, which is always a plus.

If you're in the mood for a fast-paced, fascinating account of women who didn't like the status quo, Shady Ladies is the book for you. show less

Quite naturally, we tend to hear about women who had staggering or groundbreaking achievements rather than those whose stories were not quite as groundbreaking or "important". Ledbetter has chosen 18 lesser known women and one well known ("Unsinkable Molly Brown) and related their stories--and what stories! I tend to forget, based on overbearing opinions of recent feminists, that women throughout history were able to make their own way and make a difference at times; we just don't hear about show more them much because their stories are a bit harder to trace. I can't imagine trying to live some of these lives. Would I have been brave enough to trek alone to the Yukon? Or challenge a woman to a duel? Still be coherent after 18 months of involuntary commitment in an insane asylum of the early 1900s? Probably not. These women did so much more than this and managed to influence the world in their own ways.

The author does a much better job when basing the quick biographies on either solid facts or tall tales. A life for which exists some information (particularly if it may be contradictory) seems to confuse the author and thus confuses the reader. Still a worthy book but not quite as good as I had thought when I was about halfway through it. show less

I love this whole series. It reminds me a little of the Stephanie Plum books in that the characters are fun and quirky.

I love this whole series. It reminds me a little of the Stephanie Plum books in that the characters are fun and quirky.