Biography Girls

Former stripper-turned-suburban-housewife Marjorie Orbin filed a missing person's report on her husband. She claimed that Jay, a successful art dealer, had left town on business after celebrating their son's birthday more than a month before. Jay loved his family more than life itself - and no one believed he would ever abandon them. Authorities suspected foul play

Red Star Tattoo is Sonja Larsen's unforgettable memoir of a young life spent on the move, from hardscrabble Milwaukee to dreamy Hawaii, from turbulent Montreal to California. At the age of 16, Sonja joins a cult-like communist organization in Brooklyn - unaware of the dark nature of what awaits her. Over her three years at the organization's national headquarters, Larsen works 16-hour days. Noticed and encouraged by the Old Man, the organization's charismatic leader, he makes her one of his "special girls", as well as the youngest member of the organization's militia.

For a long time, Edie thought she had escaped. It started in an Appalachian trailer park, where a young girl dreamed of becoming a doctor. But every day Edie woke up to her reality: a poverty-stricken world full of alcohol and violence, where getting out seemed impossible. She taught herself to drive a stick shift truck at 12 years old so she could get her drunk daddy home from the bar. She spent Saturdays at Brushy Mountain prison visiting her incarcerated cousin. She watched adults eat while her stomach gnawed.

The Little Way of Ruthie Leming follows Rod Dreher, a Philadelphia journalist, back to his hometown of St. Francisville, Louisiana (pop. 1,700) in the wake of his younger sister Ruthie's death. When she was diagnosed at age 40 with a virulent form of cancer in 2010, Dreher was moved by the way the community he had left behind rallied around his dying sister, a schoolteacher. He was also struck by the grace and courage with which his sister dealt with the disease that eventually took her life.

Prize-winning journalist and the coauthor of smash New York Times best seller I Am Malala, Christina Lamb now tells the inspiring true story of another remarkable young hero: Nujeen Mustafa, a teenager born with cerebral palsy whose harrowing journey from war-ravaged Syria to Germany in a wheelchair is a breathtaking tale of fortitude, grit, and hope that lends a face to the greatest humanitarian issue of our time: the Syrian refugee crisis.

The summer of 1939 turned out to be the last summer of author Lucy Lipiner's childhood. On September 1, when she was six years old, her parents roused Lucy and her older sister from their beds, and with other relatives in tow fled their town of Sucha and the invasion by Nazi Germany.

Captured in the 1930s before the words psychopath and pedophile were part of common vernacular, notorious serial killer Arnold Sodeman murdered four young girls with little thought of remorse. Without guilt, the evil serial killer strangled them to death with their own clothing and left their small bodies alone in the Australian brush, earning himself a chilling position in the annals of Australian crime.

From finding your passion to getting your friends and community involved, this guide makes changing the world fun. Take Action: You Can Make the World a Better Place is a great resource for the next generation of leaders and changemakers.

Mercy Fontenot was a Zelig who grew up in the San Francisco Haight-Ashbury scene, where she crossed paths with Charles Manson, went to the first Acid Test, and was friends with Jimi Hendrix. She predicted the Altamont disaster when reading the Rolling Stones' tarot cards at a party and left San Francisco for the climes of Los Angeles in 1967 when the Haight "lost its magic". Written just prior to her death in 2020, Permanent Damage shows us the world of the 1960s and 1970s music scene through Mercy's eyes, as well as the fallout of that era.

Polish Catholics believed she was one of them. A devoted Nazi family took her in as if she was their own daughter. She fell in love with a German engineer who built aeroplanes for the Luftwaffe. What none of these people knew was that Mala Rivka Kizel had been born into a large Orthodox Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland, in 1926. By using her charm, intelligence, blonde hair, and blue eyes to assume different identities, she was the only member of her family to survive World War II.

Renée shares a memoir with a purpose. Her journey from being counted out and overlooked in childhood through her twenties. From being told, "You are not college material" to earning a Master's degree in Education with honors. From that kid, the last one left when picking teams in gym class to high school bowling coach! Passing through addiction and many other valleys along the road. As a teacher, always remembering how it felt and making sure to always take the opportunity to right those wrongs.

From the world of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls comes the historical fiction novel about the exciting life and adventures of Ada Lovelace. In Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code, Ada uses her incredible imagination to dream up technology that could have jump-started the digital age nearly 200 years ago. In fact, she writes what will become the world's first programming language.

At the height of the Great Depression, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming. Like so many others, he wanted a reason to have hope. Traveling from farm to farm, he recruited talented, hardworking young women and offered them a chance at a better life: a free college education if they would come play for his basketball team, the Cardinals. Despite their fears of leaving home and the sacrifices faced by their families, the women followed Babb and his dream.

This extraordinary memoir details the monumental journey of one young Gambian woman from survivor of FGM and forced child marriage, to global activist and political leader who became UN Women's first Goodwill Ambassador for Africa, one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and among the youngest people nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

From the big stage to the US Navy, from laboratories to the board room, from the Olympics to the pages in books, these girls and women lead every line. Bold, bright, and empowering profiles by Geisel Honor-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling artist Niña Mata place these incredible changemakers at the very front and inspire listeners to tap into their own greatness.

My name is Hazel Lamb…Lindsey, but my momma called me Fireball. I am 84 years old. I only got one year of schooling, but I am self-taught. I worked hard all my life.

Wanda Jackson's debut single, "You Can't Have My Love," reached the Top 10 while she was still a 16-year-old high school student. She hit the road after graduation, playing package shows with Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Presley, who gave Wanda his ring and asked her to be "his girl."

Lives of Extraordinary Women turns the spotlight on the women who have wielded power, revealing their feats - and flaws - for all the world to see. You'll hear about 20 of the most influential women in history: queens, warriors, prime ministers, first ladies, revolutionary leaders. Some are revered. Others are notorious. And what were they really like?

On a quiet Melbourne afternoon in the eerie early days of the pandemic, young parents Jordan and Gary Ablett finally learned why their beautiful baby boy, Levi, had not been hitting the milestones that most new parents celebrate and are reassured by. After months of concern and worry, the specialists' diagnosis gave them clarity, but with it came an overwhelming sorrow at the loss of the life they had imagined for their son, and for themselves as a family.

The daughter of a seamstress and a cobbler, Jeanne Villepreux-Power began her career as a dressmaker, sewing beautiful gowns for the Parisian aristocracy. But her heart longed for more, and when she moved to the seaside, she became fascinated by the ocean's mysteries.