Give Her This Day: A Daybook of Women's Words

by Lois Stiles Edgerly

Very inspirational for Women.

388 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

Reviews

[Candi]

I loved the idea of this book, a bit of writing by a woman of the nineteenth century each day followed by a mini-biography of the woman. The arrangement is by the birthday of the women so no one is repeated – 366 unique women. Whether the writings were from a diary, a letter, an article, or a piece of fiction they were always interesting. The mini-biographies were not as well written. They are lacking in certain niceties and have weird editing choices. Each bio starts with the birth date of the women but with her full married name given, not her birth name. Sometimes the information is incomplete. I think most of the omissions were losses due to a desire for brevity but that also created ambiguity. There were some cross references in the bios when women were related but these were inconsistent and often went one way but not the other.

This book is an excellent source of biographies and journals to learn about the life of women in the nineteenth century, in particular it includes lesser known works and sources. The daily reading element is very pleasant and I used the book just that way – one woman a day with one bonus because it was not a leap year when I read it. Occasionally there were writings from women I did not expect, i.e. Belle Starr and Mary Cassatt, and that add enjoyment.