Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own

In this powerful memoir, Bolick, a cultural critic and contributing editor to The Atlantic, takes an unusual approach to telling her life story, by focusing on her five “awakeners”: great women of the past whose work and experiences inspire her to build the life she wants. Bolick learns from the example of essayist Maeve Brennan, columnist Neith Boyce, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, novelist Edith Wharton, and social visionary Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Bolick delves into the history of her awakeners while rounding out each of their individual narratives with her personal experiences. She also reflects on current expectations of women and marital status, backing up her musings with a handful of statistics and facts. Bolick’s intense and moving combination of personal, historical, and cultural narratives will inspire readers—especially women—to think about what they want their own lives to be, and how close they are to their goals. Agent: Tina Bennett, WME. (Apr.)