The Female Persuasion

Blurb

An Amazon Best Book of April 2018: There’s nothing like a crush – the all-consuming gush of obsession and excitement that shocks the system into euphoria. We often read about romantic infatuation, but in The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer sets her sights on another kind – female friendship and mentorship, and the craving to be heard and admired by the one you admire. It’s a rich and satisfying novel – it will be called timely –about Greer Kadetsky, a young woman coming of age and finding inspiration in feminist icon, Faith Frank, who evolves throughout the novel from abstract celebrity, to boss, confidant and challenger who pushes Greer to confront reality. “Maybe that's what we want from women, Greer thought as her thumb pulsed and percolated with blood. Maybe that's what we imagine it would be like to have a woman lead us. When women got into positions of power, they calibrated and re-calibrated tenderness and strength, modulating and correcting. Power and love didn't often live side by side. If one came in, the other might go.” This novel shimmers with hope and yearning and examines just how potent (and complicated) female support can be in a world that does not always champion women. —Al Woodworth