Historical fiction is not my favorite book type but was intrigued by the female athletic angle for this time period. I am always amazed at how many obstacles there were for women during this 1930s time period. There are three sprinters from the Womens Olympic team as the main characters and this story mixes fact with some fiction to tell their journey to the Olympics.

This is definitely a book I would recommend to women athletes, historical fiction fans and book clubs. These brave and courageous women need to be remembered. Thanks to the author for bringing this time to life.

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper is an excellent historical fiction novel that is based on real barrier-breaking women that mainly focusses on three women in particular: Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, and Louise Stokes. Three strong, talented, independent, fiery, talented, and ground-breaking women that persevered through so many barriers, trials, adversities, and nay-sayers to become successful track and field athletes that made it all the way to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

To read so many of the things that these women had to hurdle and overcome to be part of the Olympic team that traveled to Berlin on the brink of WWII. To read their separate and intertwined stories, to read about their fears, hopes, and dreams, and to see success be achieved is very, very exciting. As a former college runner, and a huge fan of historical fiction, this book was right up my alley. I truly enjoyed it.

I also enjoyed the author's notes of the real life women that graced these pages at the end of the book.

5/5 stars

Thank you to NG and William Morrow/HarperCollins for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon and B&N accounts upon publication.

I loved reading Fast Girls by Elise Hooper! The stories of these women was so poignantly told through Elise Hooper’s writing. I felt I could most relate to Helen Stephen’s story and loved reading about Fulton, as I’m a professor at one of the colleges discussed! This was such a beautifully told historical fiction, it left me reaching for more stories on these women and the real life outcome of each. Couldn’t put this one down and would absolutely recommend!

Elise Hooper does it again with this engaging, historical fiction novel focused on some amazing women. I love how she takes real life people and creates a fictional version of the historic events they were involved in. She tackles a lot of different social issues of the 1930's - sexism, racism, classism, all through the lens of the USA Women's Track and Field team. I am a runner and I love the Olympics, so I was destined to enjoy this book. Learning about the struggles Louise, Helen and even Betty faced for the opportunity to compete for their country was inspiring. If you're a fan of Laura Hillenbrand's narrative non-fiction, you should read this book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC of this book!

A perspective often over looked in athletic and world history, female athletes who risked and gave all to pursue something at which they were passionate and talented. Hooper gives a voice to three talented women, each with her own struggles and dreams.

Spanning the years 1928 through 1936, this book gives a fictional account of the real "fast girls" who ran in the Amsterdam and Berlin Olympics. Chapters alternate among the main characters, Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, Louise Stokes and their personal trials and tribulations. I was really uplifted and inspired by these women and the author does a great job of describing the many obstacles women and people of color had to overcome (and sadly still do!). And I had no idea the Olympics were so political and not necessarily ethical at all times. I learned a lot!

Wow! Such a great book and a must read for lovers of historical fiction!

This book is told from three different viewpoints of three very different women. Told from the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam through the Berlin Olympics of 1936. It was amazingly well researched and I was in awe of the things these women and their peers went through to compete! They endured a ton to pave the way for the rest of us.

Trigger warning: one of the characters is raped by a family member at age 10. Not graphic but definitely upsetting

This is definitely a book I’ll be recommending to my book club!

Thanks to the Publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book!

Fast Girls
A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team
by Elise Hooper
HarperCollins Publishers
William Morrow Paperbacks
Historical Fiction
Pub Date 07 Jul 2020 | Archive Date 07 Jul 2020

This is a must-read for historical fiction readers! Well written! Thanks to Net Galley and Harper Collins publishers for the ARC I received in exchange for an honest review. This book has some emotional jarring parts (rape) which might be hard for some readers. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how they supported each other through trying times.

Riveting tale about three female Olympians.

Historical Fiction.

This was a little slice of history I did not know much about and was very exciting to read about. In 1928, Betty Robinson competes in track and field in the Olympics. She is the first to compete. A woman has never competed before. This story will also tell of two other women who defy society's norms and compete in the Olympics.

Hooper's attention to detail was unlike any other. I was glued to the pages and could not stop reading. For any historical fiction fan, this book is a MUST!

Fast Girls is a thoroughly enjoyable book about the power of women and the will to persist and succeed. It’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about a book and an author who was new to me. Thank you Elise Hooper for digging into this part of history and teaching many of us something new about a few of the first American women to compete in the Olympics. You don’t have to be a sports fan to feel the building tension, heartache, and excitement in the story of Betty, Louise, and Helen. The novel opened a compelling window into the lives of these women and showed the obstacles in their way. Much that woman take for granted today was difficult and downright demeaning for women athletes in the early twentieth century. I can’t wait to have my library book club read and discuss Elise Hooper’s Fast Girls!

While I’m more of a couch potato than an athlete, I admire the work and dedication that goes into. competitive sports. Fast Girls is the story of a group of women runners who are trying to secure a position on the 1936 women’s Olympic track team. They have to overcome prejudice at every turn, whether it be because of race, prowess or because they are women. Several of them have to raise money on their own even to travel to Germany with no promise of running. Nazi Germany in 1936 is not a pleasant place to be, and proves to be both eye opening and scary. . This well researched story of women in sports is inspirational and thought provoking. And for those of us who didn’t know otherwise, it honors some of the many women who persevered for the rest of us.

Fast Girls: A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team by Elise Hooper was a wonderful book. Having competed in Track and Field in my younger days I never realized the struggles made by the women who made this possible for me and so many others. This novel was very well researched. The author brought these fabulous women alive for us. I enjoyed the actual newspaper clippings. They enhanced the reading with historical details that enhanced the narrative. I highly recommend it.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Harper Collins for the opportunity to preview this book.

Elise Hooper profiles members of the 1936 Women's Olympic team in her engaging novel, Fast Girls.

There are two reasons that I couldn't rate this novel higher than 3 stars. The first is that it most of the book is about the backgrounds of the athletes rather than the 1936 Olympics. I thought that the training for and the Games themselves would feature more. The other is that one the character is sexually assaulted as a child, and while I understand that so was her real life counterpart, it was a very graphic and jarring scene that I would have preferred not to have read. Otherwise, this was an interesting read, and did cover the topics of sexism and racism well.

TW: rape

I recommend this to fans of historical fiction novels based off of real-life historical figures. It would be good book club choice for adults.

3 stars

Thanks to HarperCollins Publishers, William Morrow and NetGalley for this copy, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Olympics games have historically been the ultimate levelling stage for competition, grit and determination, "Fast Girls" shows us that athletes are not, in fact, equal. Hooper delivers a compelling look at the struggles female American athletes faced in the early- to mid-20th century. Her strong female characters delve head-on into the sexism and racism that were handed out more easily than any medal. This well-researched story is an emotional triumph for anyone who cheers for the underdog.

FAST GIRLS is a must-read for fans of historical fiction. Elise Hooper's research is impeccable and she weaves it seamlessly into the narrative. There are no lengthy passages of "info dumps," which can sometimes bring historical fiction down. I especially enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing how these women were not only trailblazers and so amazingly talented, but also how they supported each other. Through Hooper's writing, their personalities really shine. The novel is fast paced and an easy, enjoyable read.

This is an interesting book rich with historical detail about the determination of women athletes to compete in the Olympic Games of 1928, 1932 and 1936. Three women in this book accomplish the impossible as they become the trailblazers for the future athletes. Actual newspaper clippings add to the well researched details in this book.
#FastGirls #EliseHooper #NetGalley

I loved learning more about these women, as these were events I didn't know much about prior. Excellent and engaging read- will recommend

Sports pioneers of the twentieth century; Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Louise Stokes were among the few female athletes headed to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. After years of fighting to be part of their local track and field teams, these fast and feisty runners overcame adversity at every turn. Repeatedly told their sex was too fragile to compete, reprimanded for this unladylike behavior, in addition to racial discrimination; Betty, Helen and Louise, along with many others spent years proving their abilities and strength on and off the course. With a tiny taste of success in 1928 and 1932, the women were training hard to make the U.S. proud and refute Adolf Hitler’s attempt to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As the politically charged Berlin Games became a powerful propaganda tool for Nazi Germany the athletes who had considered boycotting the events, continued to strive for greatness. Narrated by their personal histories and newspaper clippings, Fast Girls shares these often untold historical stories of champions who paved the future for female athletes everywhere.

**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review

Fast Girls blew me away. I so enjoyed reading about women I had never heard of. It's always strange to hear of women that were trailblazers, but not taught in any school curriculum. Helen, Bette, and Louise were amazing to learn about. How passionate they were about seeing women compete in the Olympics as well as the push they had to compete in a place they weren't completely welcome. There was a lot of support for each other as well as understanding of how they got to compete in 1936 at Berlin. I loved reading this book. I felt like even though it's a fictional book, I learned a lot about the real events of women being able to compete in the Olympics. It got me all fired up for Tokyo 2020!