An enjoyable series of intertwined short stories about women's suffrage, written by multiple authors. I liked how the different perspectives of the authors gave depth to the overall story.

What a beautiful collection and this came out at such an important time. I enjoyed all of the stories and learning more about the women suffrage movement. I highly recommend!

Stories From Suffregette City
MJ Rose
Fiona Davis
Kristin Hannah




It’s hard for us today to think that women who now outnumber men in the US have only had the vote for 100 years and that the fight for the vote and it was a hard fought win began 72 years earlier in 1848 and that even when we were “given” the right to vote not all of us received that right. Our African American sisters, our Chinese Sisters and our Native American sisters, plus more did not get the right to vote and it wasn’t until the 1965 voting rights acts signed by LBJ that all women finally got the right to vote. Shame on us!

Stories From Suffregette City is a fantastic anthology based on a real historical event, the October 23rd Suffrage March in New York City. The storytellers are some of the leading authors of historical fiction and all the stories all take place on this same monumental day in 1915. Some of the authors in this collection of stories write about real historical figures and some come straight from their imaginations, some authors share characters like Grace granddaughter to Louis Comfort Tiffany but all the characters and the stories are interesting, educational and an important facet of this historically important day. Fans of historical fiction women’s fiction and books like Grand Central by Karen White will devour this fantastic piece of important historical fiction.
There is an introduction by Kristin Hannah and the following are the contributing authors and their story titles:
Christina Baker Kline, “Orphan Train” - http://christinabakerkline.com/
Steve Berry, “The Warsaw Protocol” - https://steveberry.org/books/
Chris Bohjalian, “The Flight Attendant” - https://chrisbohjalian.com/
Megan Chance, “The Visitant” - https://www.meganchance.com/
Katherine J. Chen, “Mary B: A Novel”
Fiona Davis,“The Lions of Fifth Avenue” - https://fionadavis.net/
Jamie Ford, “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” - http://www.jamieford.com/
Paula McLain, “The Paris Wife” - http://paulamclain.com/
Dolen Perkins-Valdez,“Wench: A Novel”
Alyson Richman, “The Lost Wife” - https://www.alysonrichman.com/about-alyson-richman
M.J. Rose, “The Reincarnationist” - https://www.mjrose.com/content/
Lisa Wingate, “Before We Were Yours” - https://lisawingate.com/

Narration:
The narration by Tavia Gilbert is wonderful she hits all the highs and the lows of this important day and she delivers just the right tone and emotions off all the players plus does a bang up job on the accents and the female, male and child voices. Fantastic job!

What a beautiful collection so fitting for our times. As a woman, I've often thought of those who came before me and how their work made my life in the present-day possible. Such thoughts come to me because I'm blessed with older women in my life who remember the times when the things I take for granted weren't possible and they share their stories with me. Those stories stick with me so much longer than the facts in history books. That's just what this collection does: it breathes life into a time that now seems so faraway with raw emotion and intimate portrayals that tug at something inside of you.

As a big fan of short stories and a frequent reader of collections, this one blew me away in how every single story was truly superb. Usually there are weak points but in this collection I have an incredibly hard time picking a favorite. Each one presents a unique perspective. I was glad to see a mix of protagonists through whom to view the 1915 New York City women's march: young and old, white and minority, rich and poor, city and country, and even some male perspectives. If I had to choose, I would choose "Apple Season", "Thylacine", and "Boundless, We Ride" as my favorites though I am loathe to put any above the rest. Each story really adds something new and beautiful to the full picture.

Another thing I absolutely loved in the collection was the use of one particular character in several of the stories. Sometimes she was featured prominently, other times she was in only a sentence, but as a writer myself I loved that through line in the collection as an additional thread tying all the stories together. It was a small thing but I really enjoyed wondering where she might pop in next.

I would absolutely recommend this collection to any reader but those interested in politics, history, and the American feminist movement will be particularly touched by them. Also, as a woman reader, it was a wonderful tribute to those before us and I feel that these stories will live with me for a long time.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

I like short story anthologies a lot, but this one didn't really do it for me. I couldn't tell who the audience was. It read like a teen or middle grade book, but I think it was aiming for adults? Not sure. I guess because it feels like a book that will be used in class more than read for entertainment. That said, I did like a lot of the characters and it helped to bring to life a moment in history I didn't know about: the march for women's suffrage in NYC on October 23, 1915.

This year marks 100 years since the passage of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, well, as long as you weren't Native, or Asian-American, or Black and subject to all sorts of ways some states had of keeping the Black vote suppressed like poll taxes, so it is the perfect time for a book like this. There are some historical characters and some completely fictional, which makes for a nice intertwining in historical fiction. I also liked that some of the fictional characters show up in minor ways in other stories.

My thanks to Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book was the perfect escape. It was lovely and fun. It was my first book by this author and I will definitely be on the look out for more!!

Stories from Suffragette City is a collection of short stories that all take place on a single day: October 23, 1915, the day that more than 50,000 women, mostly dressed in white, marched for the right to vote in New York City. At the time, it was the largest women’s suffrage event to ever take place.

The stories each focus on a different woman, from wealthy society matrons, to idealistic college students, to penniless immigrants and poor factory workers. The stories are loosely connected (meaning a character in one story may appear in another), but more or less stand alone.

The stories are written by some pretty well-known authors including Lisa Wingate, M.J. Rose, Steve Berry, Paula McLain, Katherine J. Chen, Christina Baker Kline, Jamie Ford, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Megan Chance, Alyson Richman, Chris Bohjalian, and Fiona Davis.

I’ll be honest – I am not a huge fan of short stories. I feel like they skim the surface, and I always want more! Also, I feel like not everyone is good at writing them. However, overall, I felt like this was a pretty good collection and gave a great perspective of the events of that day. My two favorite stories were “Apple Season” by Lisa Wingate and “Just Politics” by Chris Bohjalian. In the first, several destitute “hill children” along with their 14-year-old child bride stepmother (!) are making their way to town to sell apples when they encounter an older woman on her way to the city, and they all end up riding in the car in the parade. In the second story, a 24-year-old immigrant schoolteacher reflects on leaving her war-torn country and her hopes for a better, more just future in America.

You’ll feel all the emotions reading this – anger, hope, happiness, sadness, pride, and frustration at where we still are more than 100 years later, as men still dominate in political offices and judgeships. It reminded me a lot of the feeling that I had when I marched in 2017 at the Women’s March in Washington, DC: the feeling of unity in our camaraderie, anger at our current state of affairs, frustration at being mocked by other women, hope to create something better, and awe in the knowledge that I was taking part in something truly historical.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment which afforded some women the right to vote, Davis and Rose decided to assemble an historical-fiction compilation of short stories that all take place on October 23, 1915, the day tens of thousands of women marched down Fifth Avenue in New York City for the right to vote. The collection contains an introduction by Kristin Hannah and stories by 12 bestselling authors including Lisa Wingate, Paula McLain, Chris Bohjalian, Steve Berry, Christina Baker Kline, Fiona and M.J., and more. While each story stands alone, they are tied together by a unifying thread that weaves throughout the tales. My favorites are “A First Step” by M.J. Rose, “Deeds Not Words” by Steve Berry, and “The Last Mile” by Fiona Davis, but I enjoyed each one and appreciated that the stories cover a range of socio-economic, cultural and racial perspectives.

Stories from Suffragette City by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis is an excellent collection of short stories, all joined together with the common theme of women coming together from all circumstances and walks of life to join together in the monumental Women’s Suffrage parade that took place in NYC in 1915.

I have been learning more and more in regards to how the 19th Amendment came to be added, and this is an excellent historical fiction compilation that adds a human factor to all the documentaries that I have watched.

I loved how all of these wonderful and talented women writers came together to give a voice to all of the unsung heroes that sacrificed so much to make this happen.

A must read for anyone that loves historical fiction, US history, and giving a voice to women.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR, Bookbub, Instagram, Amazon, and B&N accounts immediately. Publication date 10/27/20.

“Stories from Suffragette City” is a perfectly read as I just finished voting in the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. And the publication is perfectly timed as this is the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Edited by M.J. Rose and Fiona Davis, this a compilation of essays featuring 12 suffragettes who marched in a parade down Fifth Avenue in New York City. Interestingly, each story occurs on the same day: October 23, 1915. Many of the stories intersect with each other.

The characters in each essay are attention-grabbing and inspiring. I learned so much about the time period and what these powerhouse activists faced in their fight for political freedom. I’m forever grateful for every woman (and man) who stood tall, marched and relentlessly advocated for my right to vote.

As Kristin Hannah writes in the introduction, “It’s all too easy to forget the battles fought along the way and take for granted the hard-won victories. That’s why it’s especially important to remember and celebrate the women who fought bravely and paid dearly for their cause, and to teach our sons and daughters about the past. Change in any political system comes at a cost, and women’s suffrage is no exception.”

In addition to Hannah’s (“The Nightingale”) introduction, here’s a list of the popular authors who contributed to this collection:

Christina Baker Klin, “Orphan Train”
Steve Berry, “The Warsaw Protocol”
Chris Bohjalian, “The Flight Attendant”
Megan Chance, “The Visitant”
Katherine J. Chen, “Mary B: A Novel”
Fiona Davis,“The Lions of Fifth Avenue”
Jamie Ford, “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”
Paula McLain, “The Paris Wife”
Dolen Perkins-Valdez,“Wench: A Novel”
Alyson Richman, “The Lost Wife”
M.J. Rose, “The Reincarnationist”
Lisa Wingate, “Before We Were Yours”

My special thanks to Henry Holt & Company for gifting me an advanced electronic copy, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I had a chance to participate in a zoom meeting with the authors from Stories from Suffragette City, a compilation of short stories about the Woman’s March in NYC in 1915. It was so cool to hear the inspiration for this project including how they gave authors the freedom to share different views/voices from that event. There were so many diverse characters who came to life in this book. I thought it was important to share stories of immigrants who marched even though they would not be eligible to vote. They marched for their daughters and future generations who would be born in America, the land of promise. It is still hard to hear the voices of men and women who thought women were silly to “fight for something they did not need.” The mentality was that women had fathers and husbands who better understood their needs and had their best interests at heart. The book first intrigued me because of the subject and the impressive list of some of my favorite authors who contributed to this book. I like the way authors chose to incorporate some of the well known persons involved in the movement and also had freedom to created some truly inspired fictional characters who helped us understand other voices and perspectives. I liked how several authors weaved the story of a little girl named Grace throughout their stories. This should be a must read for book clubs! I cannot think of a more important time to stop and give pause to the victory and to remember the ones who went before us to give women the chance to vote

Such a great read!!! Each story is perfectly unique and intriguing. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this really fits the bill. Getting to see the woman’s perspective in a different era is necessary and is presented extremely well in this compilation.

Such a unique way of not I my telling a story during an amazing time in our country, but also a great way to showcase each individual author. I enjoyed how each story told a separate part about being a suffragette, and also how each story flowed right into the next. There was continuity and most of all it showcased a very important time in our country, when women were marching for the right to vote. 3.5⭐

Thank you to Netgalley and Henry Holy & Company for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I read this a couple of days before the 2020 presidential election and WOW, it’s powerful. It gave me so much insight to the rights women have fought to have and maintain. It really gave me a new appreciation of my right to vote and made me so proud to be a women. I loved the short stories and how each one of them had slight connections to the previous story. This should be required reading for high school students. I could not recommend this book enough!!!

I am not a huge fan of short stories. But this is a book all women should read. It just gives you an idea of what women went through to earn the right to vote. These strong women who went before us and secured this right for all women should never be forgotten and should be honored. You can honor them today by casting your ballot.

Through many trials with their families and their friends, these women succeeded. We should never take this for granted and we should never forget.

Always vote! It is your right!

As a guest lecturer on our Feminist Foremothers I loved this inspiring book of short stories of women from diverse social stratospheres and backgrounds. Every story tells the impetuses of incredibly brave women. The varied abuses that women faced from within their own families, employers and a patriarchal society that resisted giving the right to vote. I plan on buying copies for my daughters, granddaughters and nieces as a reminder of how high a price was paid for us to be able to vote. The authors didn’t shy from a number of the controversial facts. I LOVE this book and highly recommend it. Proud to be a woman who votes #NetGalley #StoriesfromSuffragetteCity

A perfect read for Election Day!! This is a wonderful collection of short stories taking place in NYC as women and (men) marched for women’s suffrage. They came on horses and carriages. They marched on foot from near and far. Women and girls came together regardless of age or race, they brought their grandmothers and babies on their hips. They carried banners with phrases like “A vote for suffrage is a vote for justice” It was Oct. 23, 1915, and tens of thousands of women flooded Fifth Avenue in a spectacular, five-mile suffrage parade that all but shut down New York City. I felt such a connection with these women - fighting for equality. Some of my favorite authors contributed to this collection and I enjoyed each and everyone. I also loved being exposed to some authors I may of not been familiar with. What a beautifully written stories filled with emotion. Thank you to NetGalley and Holt & Co. for this ebook for an honest review.

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I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This book is a compilation of 13 short stories by well-known authors. All of the stories take place on the same day: October 23, 1915. This was the day that thousands of women and men marched up 5th Avenue from Washington Square in NYC to demand that women be granted the right to vote. Each of the stories looks at a different aspect of the struggle - not only for women's equality, but for blacks, immigrants, and others.

There are characters who re-appear in several of the stories throughout the book. This technique emphasizes the fact that although the marchers represented different social strata, they were united by their common goal. The reader also gets to meet a number of famous people who participated, in one way or another, in this march. All of the stories paint a vivid picture of the history of the time.

This was particularly powerful because I was reading it on October 23, 2020, the anniversary of the March and during the campaign for the 2020 Presidential Election. We are reminded that it is never, "Just Politics."

Women today take their right to vote for granted. Stories from Suffragette City reminds us all of the struggle brave women fought to pass the nineteenth amendment just one hundred years ago. This is a collection of writing by celebrated historical fiction authors. One character, a young girl, connects some of the stories and provides a fascinating bridge. These works should be read and discussed. They bring attention to amazing women that should not be forgotten.

A great anthology for the times we are living in. Loved the way the stories connected certain characters.