A Cowardly Woman No More
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Coffee House Press
Published:18th May '23
Should be back in stock very soon
Over the course of one fateful day, Trisha Donahue begins to reclaim her courage and discovers secrets in a familiar place. A surprising, quietly dramatic adventure story infused with Ellen Cooney’s warm humor and wisdom.
After years of skilled work and dedication, Trisha Donahue is denied a well-earned promotion by her company’s male executives, who give it instead to an underqualified man. Devastated, forty-four-year-old Trisha begins to reckon with the demands that exhaust her, the injustices that confront her, and the ways she has betrayed herself “just to fit in” with coworkers who resent and belittle her abilities. But at the Rose & Emerald—a unique rural restaurant Trisha has loved since childhood—her company’s annual Banquet Day sets in motion a surprising adventure, revealing unexpected allies, hidden passageways, and an interstellar secret. Encouraged by a vivid cast of characters, from sympathetic coworkers to the mysterious employees of the fabled Rose & Emerald, Trisha makes a decision that will change her professional and personal life forever. From acclaimed author Ellen Cooney, A Cowardly Woman No More is a lively, luminous novel about a wife, mom, and career woman who brings herself first nervously, then more and more bravely, through a monumental transformation.
Praise for A Cowardly Woman No More
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023
“This elegant and off-kilter upending of the office novel sings.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The book unspools, with grace, humor, and perceptive depth, over the course of a single ordinary, extraordinary day. It is, in part, an office novel, and Cooney nails the soul-dulling absurdity of certain working lives. And it is, in part, a much stranger and more magical thing. . . . Cooney’s great skill as we press against the limits of the real is that we are with her in every moment; her language is unshowy, matter-of-fact, human, and she is also open—and opens us—to the inexplicable, the wild magic, the stuff we can’t make sense of all the way.” —Nina MacLaughin, The Boston Globe
“Cooney is remarkably adept at capturing minute inner crises within an individual and the imperfect but real connections between people. . . . A shining exploration of human frailty and endurance.” —Kirkus
“A Cowardly Woman No More is a feminist novel, but it’s more than a Me Too tale on gender equity and equality. It asks us to look closely at ourselves and wonder if we’ve let daily living take the joy out of life. . . . Trisha speaks from one woman’s soul to another.” —Lorraine Kleinwaks, Enchanted Prose
“A truly lovely read, funny at times, poignant, and an interesting portrait of a type of person I’m sure we all have met, or maybe actually are.” —Davida Chazan, TCL Review
“I have been a fan of Ellen Cooney’s for years, and she is in undeniably brilliant form once again here. Masterfully told, full of surprise, built from unforgettable sentences that sing, whisper, or shout, A Cowardly Woman No More is utterly compelling from its first fiery comet of a page to its last.” —Laird Hunt
ISBN: 9781566896719
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
232 pages