About The May Queen

THE MAY QUEEN (Tarcher/Putnam, March 23, 2006; $14.95) is a new collection of intriguing essays from writers such as Jennifer Weiner, Meghan Daum, Heather Juergensen, Jennifer Baumgardner, Marisa de los Santos, Veronica Chambers, Julianna Baggott, Lily Burana, Tanya Donelly, Michelle Richmond, Tanya Shaffer, Ashley Warlick, and Erin Cressida Wilson and more on being a woman in your thirties.

This fascinating collection of 27 essays takes a candid look at being in your thirties from women who have crossed the threshold and not only survived but flourished in the process. What's a young mother of three to do when she is thought of as less powerful than her single counterparts? What's a woman considering sperm donation as a last-ditch effort to motherhood to do when she meets the man of her dreams? What's a woman who has suffered two brain hemorrhages during her son's birth to do when she's told her prognosis is dismal? What's a long-time stripper to do when she realizes the stage has lost its luster? What's an immigrant woman to do when she's told she can't give birth in her adopted homeland? What's a woman in her thirties to do when she's told she must have a child by the rest of society?

Rejecting the notion of "having it all" and society's unrealistic and often conflicting demands about what women should be, these writers-some of whom are also artists, actors, musicians, and playwrights-speak frankly about love, sex, career, feminism, motherhood, living a creative life, and much more. Their personal stories are evidence that the thirties can be a time of self-discovery, of learning from and making peace with the past, and realizing dreams in often surprising ways. As they unveil their triumphs and even their failures, it's easy to see that the old rules that once so narrowly defined us no longer apply.

Each of the contributors to this volume reveals, in the words of editor Andrea Richesin, "their secret thoughts, desires, and fears. It is this nuanced vulnerability, this ability to bare their souls that offers a refreshingly honest and insightful perspective." For any woman who has yet to turn thirty or any woman who has already entered the decade, The May Queen offers vivid dispatches from the territory ahead.

Advance Praise for The May Queen

"Reading The May Queen is like being welcomed to the party you always wanted to go to. The room is filled with beautiful, smart, funny women who will tell you in sparkling, insightful prose how they've reckoned with their thirties-children or not? How to balance family and career, dreams and realities? By the end of the evening, you'll have coaxed your own fears and regrets to sit side-by-side on the couch with theirs, and you'll tuck them in with tea before you turn to go out smiling into the rest of your life."
Quinn Dalton, author of Bulletproof Girl


"There are books that nimbly widen our perspective and well-being. This is one of them. Read it in the bathtub and praise God for the solace of good writing."
Suzanne Finnamore, author of Otherwise Engaged and The Zygote Chronicles


"I started The May Queen and couldn't stop. This book is wonderful-deeply felt, sometimes hilarious, unflinchingly true."
Patricia Volk, author of Stuffed

"Finally an anthology for people who don't like lousy anthologies. In Richesin's smart collection, a witty and charming cadre of women write about relationships, motherhood, daughterhood, work, terrible break-ups, epic romances, the minutiae of everyday life, and wrangling it all while trying to live a creative life. They tackle it all, with cheek and wisdom and every essay is a winner. At turns romantic and heartbreaking, hysterical and sweet, these rants and testimonials will resonate with anyone who's ever faced a chardonnay-fueled middle-of-the-night bout of age-induced self-reflection."
Chelsea Cain, author of Confessions of a Teen Sleuth


"The pleasure of this book is the pleasure of voyeurism. Here is a seductive array of choices that you did not make, or choices that you did make, neatly spread out side by side so that you can compare and contrast. In this way it's irresistible and compulsively fun to read. "
Alix Speigel, NPR Reporter and contributing editor to the public radio program This American Life


"The May Queen is a smart, provocative exploration of women's lives in their thirties: the responsibilities, the agonies, and the joys of coming into adulthood. Whether you've reached the big 3-0 or not, the book is a great primer for the decade's dramas to come, and an extremely pleasurable alternative to "thirtysomething" reruns on TV."
Amy Sohn, author of My Old Man


"The May Queen offers fiercely emotional yet mostly upbeat chronicles of young women finding their way into lives they love, sometimes to their own real surprise. All the writers here share an unmistakable passion for creating--whether it be new art, new babies, or new selves."
Margaret Talbot, Senior Fellow at The New America Foundation and Staff Writer at The New Yorker


"This varied and thought-provoking collection asks all the right questions about what it means to be female and "all grown up." If there's a common theme to The May Queen it's the desire for a meaningful life in a world of seemingly infinite choices."
Lucinda Rosenfeld, author of What She Saw . . . and Why She Went Home


"A powerful collection--by digging deep into their own life stories, these writers reach the universal stream of experience, capturing the thirties completely."
Ariel Gore, editor of Hip Mama and author of The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show


"Talk about engrossing. The amazingly intimate and forthright essays in The May Queen had me nodding my head in recognition--over and over again. Confidence and confusion, love and despair, artistic achievement and the dilemma about babies. It's all in this magnificent collection."
Marcy Dermansky, author of Twins

Press

"Like an eavesdropper, you get the feeling you are listening in on one of the most intimate conversations of a woman's life."
The Daily Times, Maryville, TN

"The May Queen" is that rare essay collection that will spur thoughtful, stimulating discussion in book groups filled with die-hard novel readers...There is much to savor from some of the best women writing today."
The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH

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