"Scribbling Women": True Tales from Astonishing Lives

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"Scribbling Women": True Tales from Astonishing Lives

by Marthe Jocelyn (Goodreads Author)

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 58 ratings · 32 reviews

In 1855, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his publisher, complaining about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” Whether they were written by professionals, by women who simply wanted to connect with others, or by those who wanted to leave a record of their lives, those “scribbles” are fascinating, informative, and instructive.

Margaret Catchpole was a transported prisoner...more In 1855, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his publisher, complaining about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” Whether they were written by professionals, by women who simply wanted to connect with others, or by those who wanted to leave a record of their lives, those “scribbles” are fascinating, informative, and instructive.

Margaret Catchpole was a transported prisoner whose eleven letters provide the earliest record of white settlement in Australia. Writing hundreds of years later, Aboriginal writer Doris Pilkington-Garimara wrote a novel about another kind of exile in Australia. Young Isabella Beeton, one of twenty-one children and herself the mother of four, managed to write a groundbreaking cookbook before she died at the age of twenty-eight. World traveler and journalist Nelly Bly used her writing to expose terrible injustices. Sei Shonagan has left us poetry and journal entries that provide a vivid look at the pampered life and intrigues in Japan’s imperial court. Ada Blackjack, sole survivor of a disastrous scientific expedition in the Arctic, fought isolation and fear with her precious Eversharp pencil. Dr. Dang Thuy Tram’s diary, written in a field hospital in the steaming North Vietnamese jungle while American bombs fell, is a heartbreaking record of fear and hope.

Many of the women in “Scribbling Women” had eventful lives. They became friends with cannibals, delivered babies, stole horses, and sailed on whaling ships. Others lived quietly, close to home. But each of them has illuminated the world through her words.

A note from the author: OOPS! On page 197, the credit for the Portrait of Harriet Jacobs on page 43 should read: courtesy of Library of Congress, not Jean Fagan Yellin. On page 197, the credit for the portrait of Isabella Beeton on page 61 should read: National Portrait Gallery, London. On page 198, the credit for page 147 should be Dang Kim Tram, not Kim Tram Dang. We are very sorry about the mix-up in the Photo Credits, they will be updated on any new editions or reprints.

From the Hardcover edition.(less)

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Published March 22nd 2011 by Tundra Books (first published March 8th 2011)

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Apr 16, 2011 Christine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads

From the product description, “In 1855, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote to his publisher, complaining about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” Whether they were written by professionals, by women who simply wanted to connect with others, or by those who wanted to leave a record of their lives, those “scribbles” are fascinating, informative, and instructive.”

In the days before email, blogs and twitter people wrote journals and letters. Due to lack of formal education women wrote few and even few...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Jenny O. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Everyone has trials and sorrors, and moments of boredom or immense delight. But these scribbling women wrote it down, passed it along, told us they were here, and took the time to illuminate their worlds."

In high school I was a Nathaniel Hawthorne short story junkie. Get me started on writing, famous authors, or "real lit" and I would immediately launch into a boring soliloquy on his symbols, allegories and other obscure stuff that would make fellow high school students stop me in mid-sentence...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Lawral added it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, 2011

Starting with Sei Shonagon in Heian Japan and working her way chronologically to Doris Pilkington Garimara in modern day Australia, Jocelyn manages to look at the writing of a wide variety of women. She admits in her introduction that she was limited to work written in or translated into English, which explains the predominance of North American and British women in these pages. Still, this is not a book filled with the polite letters of Victorian ladies.

Of the eleven women in these pages, five...more Starting with Sei Shonagon in Heian Japan and working her way chronologically to Doris Pilkington Garimara in modern day Australia, Jocelyn manages to look at the writing of a wide variety of women. She admits in her introduction that she was limited to work written in or translated into English, which explains the predominance of North American and British women in these pages. Still, this is not a book filled with the polite letters of Victorian ladies.

Of the eleven women in these pages, five are women of color and five (not the same five) spend a better part of their lives as decidedly lower class. Their stories really do cover a broad spectrum of the female experience; no two are alike. Whether you are looking for action or introspection, gumption or the strong will to make do, there is woman here for you. The women include a surgeon during the Vietnam War (Dang Thuy Tram), an undercover reporter (Nellie Bly), the eight-year-old author of still in print The Young Visiters (Daisy Ashford), and one of the first female felons to be shipped to Australia (Margaret Catchpole).

My only problem with this book was that I wanted to know more about each of the women, which is actually a good thing. In some cases, there is just not that much more that is known. In others, I'm going to have to go looking for information about these women or others like them on my own. There is a bibliography in the back of the book, but it's arranged in alphabetical order (like bibliographies should be) rather than organized by subject or chapter, and it's pretty long. I would have much preferred short biblios at the end of each chapter even if it would have broken up the narrative a bit. Also, though this book has the subject heading of "biography," the information contained in Scribbling Women is based almost entirely on the writing of the women themselves. I love this, but it will make this book a hard sell for report writers as some common details are often not included (birth and death dates, however, are present). Still, this is an interesting book about an interesting mix of women that nonfiction readers and budding young writers are sure to enjoy.

Book source: Review copy provided by the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.(less)

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Mar 27, 2011 Susanna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

"Scribbling Women" highlights the "astonishing" lives of eleven female writers from around the world. Each of these women, who all lived sometime between the 10th and 21st centuries, have left their unique legacies behind through their writings, whether diaries, letters, novels, memoirs, or cookbooks. For some of these amazing women, entire books could be filled with their lives; for others, little is known about them besides the sources that they themselves left behind. Jocelyn has devoted only...more

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Oct 02, 2011 Cj W rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

I wish there was a 2.5 star I could give.
The book was ok.
It is a few short stories about women who have, against the odds and times, been able to write the stories of their lives. These stories have been preserved through time, and have been compiled into this short book.

The stories range from a Whale Hunters wife, to, and what I thought as the most interesting, a world war, Asian female physician, and a lady who was able to run from slavery and right her stories regarding this time and her t...more

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Sep 22, 2012 Laura (booksnob) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, history, non-fiction

Have you ever wondered about the people who have gone before you and have paved the way to make your life easier?

Many women in the world are not taught to read and write and throughout time this remains true. Women and girls are undervalued. Throughout history women who wrote were told they had nothing important to say and were encouraged to stop scribbling. So Marthe Jocelyn was curious about scribbling women and started looking into resources to find the women who journaled, wrote letters and...more

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Jun 07, 2011 Jennifer Rayment rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unique and interesting stories about real women that are very thourhougly researched. The retelling of the stories were done with an obvious love for the subjects. Simple letters and diaries gave us a glimpse and some insight into the era that the women lived in. In many cases we might not have known some very important facts if it wasn't scribbled by these almost forgotten women. I did find it to be a little short and would have liked a little more information about each of these women, but as...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Paula Schuck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I read this for part of a blog tour next week with the author and Tundra Books. It is a very interesting and easy read. All mini-biolgrphies and snippets of lives of lesser known female writers. I really enjoyed the story of Nellie Blye, one of our first ever female investigative expose reporters. The stories range from women who were slaves to those who lived on a whaling boat with family for a year to that of Nellie Blye. All are interesting and compelling. Their stories are historical and thi...more

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Apr 08, 2011 Heather Pearson rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Heather by: Tundra

Shelves: canadian, ya

When I was in grade school I read every single biography about a female that was to be found in my school library; then I stopped. I didn't read another until a few years ago when I got my hands on a copy of Flint & Feather: The life and Time of E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake. I marvelled at all she had accomplished, but also at the lengths she had to go to get the same recognition as the men in the literary field.

In her latest book, Marthe Jocelyn has introduced me to eleven women who hav...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Canadian Children's Book Centre added it · review of another edition

Shelves: books-news-reviews, ccbc2012-norma-fleck-non-fic-award

The nineteenth century male writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, once complained about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” The accomplished and versatile female writer of our century, Marthe Jocelyn, decided to investigate the life and work of some of these so-called “scribbling women,” those women who kept journals, wrote letters, or even published books, and in doing so, illuminated their lives and the world around them.

Jocelyn has selected a fascinating array of women from around the world who...more The nineteenth century male writer, Nathaniel Hawthorne, once complained about the irritating fad of “scribbling women.” The accomplished and versatile female writer of our century, Marthe Jocelyn, decided to investigate the life and work of some of these so-called “scribbling women,” those women who kept journals, wrote letters, or even published books, and in doing so, illuminated their lives and the world around them.

Jocelyn has selected a fascinating array of women from around the world whose stories spoke to her. The book is arranged in chronological order and each tale moves into the next with a brief connecting piece. She begins with Sei Shonagon, a lady-in-waiting in the tenth century Japanese court. A born gossip who loved life at court, Sei’s observations — in the form of lists, poems and anecdotes that give us much insight into her world — were collected and published in English as The Pillow Book, a book still in print. We read about Margaret Catchpole, a poor farm girl who was banished to Australia for stealing a horse. Her letters home to England give a detailed picture of life in the penal colony. A yearlong letter written by Mary Hayden Russell describes her time on a whaling ship with her husband, the captain. More familiar scribblers, Isabella Beeton and Mary Kingsley, make an appearance, as does Nellie Bly, who practically invented investigative journalism. There is a young Vietnamese doctor, killed during the war, whose poignant journal survived only because of the illegal actions of an American soldier. The book ends with the story of Australian aboriginal, Doris Pilkington, author of Rabbit-Proof Fence, the harrowing tale of her mother’s childhood under repressive government policies.

This book contains a most eclectic cast of characters and Jocelyn’s elegant storytelling creates a complete world for each brief tale. It all comes together beautifully because she never loses sight of her main theme — how these women, often in dire circumstances and under extreme duress, managed to document their lives and experiences with pen and paper. Following her passion and curiosity, Jocelyn has created a rich, thoughtful and somewhat quirky collection that can be used in English, History or Writer’s Craft classes, as well as being an inspiration to the many scribbling young women out there.

Reviewed by Mary Anne Cree in Canadian Children's Book News (Spring 2011, Vol. 34, No. 2)(less)

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Mar 31, 2011 Sally rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Tara

Shelves: first-reads, biogs-and-other-true-stories, non-fiction, sexy-heisst-eine-frau-die-kaempft, own-gardiner, i-own-this

I won a copy of this book through First Reads, and I am so very glad because otherwise, I may never have had the absolute pleasure of reading it! I have read one other book by Marthe Jocelyn - the wonderful Mable Riley - and it comes as no surprise now, having read Scribbling Women and thus knowing what interests this author, that she was able to come up with such a brilliant character as "Mrs." Rattle - one of my literary favourites, up there with Elphaba and Minty. I do need a shelf for "stron...more

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Jul 16, 2011 Linda Robinson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Remarkable collection, well researched. Extraordinary that writings by the women featured in the book survived; some serendipitously, some purposefully. And much praise to Jocelyn for digging to find the women's stories and bringing them to our attention. We've talked for years about how women's stories are buried, ignored; the voices of female experience stilled. And here are a heartload of stories Jocelyn shares. The unbelievably terrible experience of the Aboriginal writer of The Rabbit Proof...more

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May 16, 2011 Ruth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Maybe I should have given this book 5 stars. I REALLY liked it. For any woman who loves to write, or even if you just journal or blog, you might really love this book. In the forward, the author tells us that the title began as a sneer made by Nathaniel Hawthorne (author of the Scarlett Letter), in a letter to his publisher, in which he complained about what he considered the irritating fad of "scribbling women". At the end of the book, she encourages us to write and says, "Get scribbling..."

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Jul 30, 2012 Erika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, canadiana, set-in-foreign-countries, read-in-2012, writing, feminism

Great book on some very courageous and extraordinary lives by women, who have left their mark on history by "scribbling" about them. I felt an enormous sense of admiration, as well as anger and sadness at the injustices that were forced upon them, mostly by white men. The author ends the book by leaving us with a list of topics she felt she wanted to know more about after studying and writing about the lives of these women, and I certainly have a list of my own. Lovely book.

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Aug 27, 2011 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book contains short biographies of 11 women who left some sort of written record of their lives, thus the title "Scribbling Women". I wish the author had included more of each woman's own writings. There is a selected bibliography at the end, for the reader who wishes to study more about the women. The most interesting women included here are: Sei Shonagon, Margaret Catchpole, Mary Kingsley, Ada Blackjack, Dang Thuy Tram, and Doris Pilkington Garimara.

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Mar 18, 2013 Natalie Cheetham rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: gstba-2013

A compilation of short biographies of 11 women throughout time who have passed on their histories through the written word.

An interesting read. Originally, I thought that it was a collection of biographies of famous female authors...but the fact that these were women from all different walks of life, some of whom had little schooling and atrocious grammar, made the book more interesting. I think that this book would serve as a good springboard for further study into one of the women themselves o...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Rosy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

This was a cool idea for a book and I learned about a bunch of extremely interesting, yet unknown historical women figures, but the way in which their stories and writings were portrayed was a bit of a letdown. Instead of a collection of extensive pieces of writing with some background information, it was more of a mini-biography for each woman with a couple of short quotes. Not sure if this was a copywrite issue or simply the writer's choice, but I would've really enjoyed a lot more primary sou...more

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May 21, 2012 Jen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Compelling and informative biographical sketches of several women around the world and throughout history who, despite various challenges, felt themselves drawn to writing. These fascinating women include: Sei Shonagon, Margaret Catchpole, Mary Hayden Russell, Harriet Jacobs, Isabella Beeton, Mary Kingsley, Nellie Bly, Daisy Ashford, Ada Blackjack, Dang Thuy Tram, Doris Pilkington Garimara.

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Nov 06, 2011 Amy Dance rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved reading about all these women; some I had never heard of. It was fascinating to read about their lives. I was disappointed that the book was more a narrative about what the women wrote, rather than a compilation of their own words. Otherwise, I would have given another star.

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May 01, 2013 Su rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A collection of personal writings of women who lived hundreds of years ago up until the present day. Their remarkable stories inspired me and filled me with a sense of pride in their accomplishments, most of which occurred under horrific conditions .

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Oct 10, 2011 Tammy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Scribbling Women publishes the written word from a diverse representation of women from centuries ago to as recently as the Vietnam War era. I enjoyed learning about the women, their lives and their viewpoint of the world at that time. I am hoping for a second book.

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Nov 07, 2011 Naomi rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-authors, nonfiction, young-adult

True tales of eleven women. Title comes from Nathaniel hawthorne's comment that women shouldn't write.
I think the book points out how important ink and paper were before we had e-mail! Author also draws some comparisons as well. Great for teaching, poetry and journalling. A must read for anyone!

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Aug 08, 2011 Adrienne Amborski rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Accesible and fascinating fact filled vignettes of obscure female authors. Learned quite a bit of interesting stories that I would like to pursue further. Written for teens, but ageless.

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Sep 04, 2011 Dawn rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Interesting very short stories. I was expecting more in depth writing, however I could follow up on the stories of the women portrayed. I am not quite captivated enough to do so.

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Feb 18, 2013 Connie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Scibbling women is an exeptional account of some extraordinary lives of some of the world's strong and resourceful women. Mom and I both enjoyed reading this one. I hope you will too. It's a bit like a bible, in that I want to read one chapter at a time and memorize bits to use in conversation later.

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Nov 05, 2011 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

Very awesome. My favorites: Sei Shonagon and Nellie Bly. Margaret Catchpole was pretty awesome too. I liked her creative spelling.

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Jul 26, 2011 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Deanna by: Goodreads

Although my local library listed this book as a Young Adult read, I would recommend this book for teens and adults. Included are short life histories of famous women who recorded their thoughts in the written word. Some you may have heard of, some you may not have. Each of the women lived their lives outside of the accepted 'norm'. Not only have their writings left us with an insight into each of their own personalities but also insights into the conditions of their society at the time. An enjoy...more

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May 22, 2012 Joolin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very interesting to get a little blurb about various real-life women that had some amazing experiences. The real stories are the most interesting, and I got a few references to read more about these women and books they've written.

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Mar 21, 2011 Edward Sullivan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography, young-adult-nonfiction

See my forthcoming review in Kirkus.

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Jun 26, 2011 Carola rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Carola by: Nicole

Shelves: non-fiction

I really liked the idea of this book, and it made me want to read more about several of these women.

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