Biography Girls

A defiant anthem for the soul, Walk Like a Girl is an invitation to rewrite your story. To shatter the mold into which society has tried to cast you. When we learn to embrace the power of vulnerability, the beauty of imperfection, and the infinite possibilities within each of us, we begin to see the extraordinary power within ourselves, waiting to be unleashed.

Mountain Girl is an inspiring and poignant story that shows how grit and soul can take a person from barefoot in Appalachia to the boardrooms of industry without losing that special something or selling out. In her own words, Rockefeller writes about a fascinating life that has been well-lived and a hoot to boot.

Kwan Kew Lai met her first Punjabi woman doctor while lying in a hospital bed with a severe kidney infection at the age of fourteen. Watching the woman walk away down the hall, Kwan Kew was convinced she could, and would, carve out her own destiny. In The Girl Who Taught Herself to Fly, the author weaves in her family’s story of joy, sorrow, loss, love, and endless struggles with poverty and hunger. This poignant memoir, with universal and timeless themes, will leave you in awe.

Pink Jade is a touching and inspiring chronicle of a young Vietnamese girl and her family's life during the turmoil preceding and following the Vietnam War. It speaks to her journey to find peace and love after escaping the horrors of war-torn Vietnam. Sharing the trauma of forced displacement and the difficulties and uncertainty of what would come next, the author invites listeners to walk with her, as she and her family relocate her lost father and start a new life with a new direction.

Betty MacDonald was a 28-year-old reporter from Hawaii. Zuzka Lauwers grew up in a tiny Czechoslovakian village and knew five languages by the time she was 21. Jane Smith-Hutton was the wife of a naval attaché living in Tokyo. Marlene Dietrich, the German-American actress and singer, was of course one of the biggest stars of the 20th century. These four women, each fascinating in her own right, together contributed to one of the most covert and successful military campaigns in WWII.

At the tender age of five years old, Tola Grossman was sent to a Nazi labor camp. As World War II was breaking out around them, the only thing Tola and her parents were left with was the instinct to survive at all costs. Tola’s life became a series of miraculous close calls, from being saved from a gas chamber to successfully hiding from the Nazis as they were rounding people up.

Born to wealth that the Civil War ravaged, held captive by renegade Comanche, and rejected by family and friends, Mary Elizabeth (“Libby”) Haley ran away from home at the age of 14. Libby learned to navigate the dangerous and volatile Old West and made a name for herself as Squirrel Tooth Alice. Given her moniker because of a gap in her front teeth and her passion for raising ground squirrels as pets, Libby made the best of a difficult situation.

In this candid, sensational memoir, I will show you how I achieved all my wildest dreams, what happened when everything I’d built collapsed, and how I eventually came back stronger than ever. There are lessons here for every entrepreneur about how to successfully navigate the extraordinary highs and lows of running your own business, and how it can all go wrong. A million dollars, hot girls and a Ferrari are out there, and they’re closer than you think. Come on this journey with me, and I’ll show you how to get everything you’ve ever dreamed of.

In 2000, millions of Australians tuned in to watch Popstars, one of the world’s first reality television competitions, in which five girls were selected from thousands to become members of a new band: Bardot. And Belinda Chapple signed a contract that would turn her life upside down. Bardot shot straight to fame and Belinda spent the following three years relentlessly rehearsing, recording and touring. But Belinda discovered that the life of a popstar could be lonely, and it came with consequences she never saw coming.

Three harrowing tales of three teenage girls who left behind a trail of murder and mayhem.

Malala Yousafzai made headlines worldwide when, as a young girl, she stood up against the Taliban. Her story of bravery has inspired millions, and she received many prestigious awards, too. But if you learn about her life, you will know that there’s more to her story. You will know of the circumstances her people had to face every day. Listen today!

Susan Swan has never fit inside the boxes that other people have made for her—the daughter box, the wife box, the mother box, the femininity box. Instead, throughout her richly lived, independent decades, she has carved her own path and lived with the consequences. In this revealing and revelatory memoir, Swan shares the key moments of her life.

These memoirs are delightful to listen to, from the mischievous tales of Peter growing up to the emergence of Peta, a young woman who chose to dedicate her life to serving others as a nurse and midwife. Her story is a life of daring, daring to stand up and speak out, daring to be that voice for others, daring to be different, and do it all with kindness and empathy.

Hilda’s family didn’t know she had muscular dystrophy. They just knew their preschooler was losing her ability to walk. But they were determined to find a cure. Being disabled in Cameroon meant not only obstacles to transport, but visits to diviners and evangelists, threats of sexual assault, discrimination, and a crisis of faith. Despite the hardship Hilda has faced, her family’s unwavering support and God’s unwavering grace have helped her persevere to become a national broadcaster.

On a cold night in December 1956, two young girls mysteriously vanished after a night at the movies on the Southwest Side of Chicago, beginning one of the greatest searches to ever take place in the history of the city. Three weeks later, the bodies of the two lost girls, Barbara and Patricia Grimes, were found on the side of a secluded, snow-covered road, miles from where they disappeared. The discovery of their battered corpses created one of the greatest unsolved mysteries to ever baffle post-war America. Where had the girls been for the past three weeks?

It's Saturday, and everything is different. No, I didn't go to the market this morning, and I didn't have my usual coffee on Westerstraat. And no, I wasn't getting ready for a new semester at college. Next Monday, January 31, I have to admit myself at the hospital for my first chemotherapy session. For the next two months, I'm expected each week for a fresh shot of vincristine, etoposide, ifosfamide, and loads more exciting abracadabra.

Despite being rejected by the Marines in 1972, Effin G kept his ambition and discipline. He was ultimately recruited by a private army in 1975 and participated in his first mission in 1976. This is a riveting story of how a young man uses the power of music, especially the music of The Grateful Dead, to help him through an amazing military adventure. The real characters show how a diverse group of Vietnam Era soldiers come together for an important cause: The War on Drugs.

Before Coco and Christian, there was Lucile. She was one of the world's most glamorous women and the most famous fashionista of the Edwardian age. Yet, couturiere Lucile, Lady Duff Gordon was born plain Lucy Sutherland and grew up in a stone farmhouse in Ontario, Canada. How she went from a backwoods farm to presiding over an international fashion empire is a remarkable story of unshakeable determination and female achievement at a time when it was thought that a woman's place was in the home.

Women have bravely served in the US Navy for nearly a century, but they have been allowed to serve in combat roles for only the last 25 years. When the combat exclusion law was lifted in 1993, women in the navy soon had a new range of opportunities available to them. The repeal of the law finally gave women the chance to serve on combatant ships for the first time. Among the first women to step onto these warships as a new crewmember was Joanna Sprtel Walters.

Jools and Lynda Topp aka The Topp Twins tell this story in their own words, describing their adventurous lives through laugh-out-loud anecdotes and heartwarming tales. As well as their long careers as country music stars and comedians, with characters like Camp Mother & Camp Leader and Ken & Ken, the twins have always stood up for their political beliefs and have been embraced by New Zealanders from all walks of life.