ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF THE SUMMER BY POPSUGAR, FROLIC, PARADE, TRAVEL & LEISURE, SHE KNOWS, and SHE READS!
NAMED A REAL SIMPLE BEST BOOK OF 2020 (SO FAR).
“Fast Girls is a compelling, thrilling look at what it takes to be a female Olympian in pre-war America…Brava to Elise Hooper for bringing these inspiring heroines to the wide audience they so richly deserve.”—Tara … these inspiring heroines to the wide audience they so richly deserve.”—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and The House Girl
Acclaimed author Elise Hooper explores the gripping, real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Perfect for readers who love untold stories of amazing women, such as The Only Woman in the Room, Hidden Figures, and The Lost Girls of Paris.
In the 1928 Olympics, Chicago’s Betty Robinson competes as a member of the first-ever women’s delegation in track and field. Destined for further glory, she returns home feted as America’s Golden Girl until a nearly-fatal airplane crash threatens to end everything.
Outside of Boston, Louise Stokes, one of the few black girls in her town, sees competing as an opportunity to overcome the limitations placed on her. Eager to prove that she has what it takes to be a champion, she risks everything to join the Olympic team.
From Missouri, Helen Stephens, awkward, tomboyish, and poor, is considered an outcast by her schoolmates, but she dreams of escaping the hardships of her farm life through athletic success. Her aspirations appear impossible until a chance encounter changes her life.
These three athletes will join with others to defy society’s expectations of what women can achieve. As tensions bring the United States and Europe closer and closer to the brink of war, Betty, Louise, and Helen must fight for the chance to compete as the fastest women in the world amidst the pomp and pageantry of the Nazi-sponsored 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
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Fast Girls is a high-speed romp as ambitious and heart-pounding as its trio of track-star heroines… A gold medal read from Elise Hooper!
I raced through this fast-paced novel on an exhilarating journey that begins with the humble beginnings of promising female runners and culminates in their inspiring and obstacle-filled quests for Olympic glory. I fell in love with the characters and their stories of determination, hope, friendship, grit, and the strength of the human spirit. Perfect for readers who want to be motivated by strong women and their pursuit of seemingly-impossible dreams.
… Kinetic, mesmerizing, and terrifically entertaining… A wonderful novel… it will surely appeal to anyone with an interest in the pioneering women who paved the rocky and uphill way for today’s female Olympians.
Such a great book on a subject I knew nothing about. I love learning about new topics especially about women in the past and the challenges they faced. The book focuses on 3 female athletes, members of the first integrated women’s Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. Remarkable characters and attention to detail will keep you quickly turning page after page. I recommend this book to all historical fiction fans and anyone that enjoys a well written, well researched novel on strong women and the challenges they faced during this very tense time in American history.
I’ve read several books recently that dealt with how women were not treated as equal to men. This book was another great example. Set during the early 20th century and focused on women who competed in the Olympics from 1928-1936, these women are to be admired. Betty, Helen, and Louise were focused on overcoming obstacles and ultimately achieving success.
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
Fabulous fictional account of the US women’s Olympic track and field team, focusing on three real-life figures and weaving their narrative threads through a riveting arc that keeps you turning pages. A must-read for historical fiction fans.
A good history of women runners and the difficulties they faced in the US and in the Olympics. Well worth the read.
A bit repetitious. I learned a lot, good and bad, about women competition.
As a runner, I found this historical fiction book based on real women in the 1930s to be informative and inspirational. What a great story!
This book, which is based on a true story, deals with womens’ struggle for equality in athletics, namely track and field. The book begins with several young women from different socio-economic backgrounds vying for their spot on the 1928 Olympic team. This was a feat which was a first for women. It continues with these young women having to struggle with obstacles that are personal, racial, and gender based. We see both a progression and a maturity as they encounter many hurdles with some success and failures as the years go by. The depiction of the 1928 Olympic games in Amsterdam, the1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, and finally on the brink of World War II, the1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin is well researched and very interesting.
This is a very well written book. It shares little known facts about the early female olympiads this is important to know and appreciate. Well written!
I enjoyed the historical aspects of the novel and especially liked the way the author told what became each of the Olympians in the story.
Good read touches on race relations during that time. Has some romance.
Never knew anything about the original women’s Olympic teams, nor of the bias against female athletes a century ago prior to reading this. Definitely kept my interest and was easy to read.
A fascinating piece of little known history of the Olympic movement for women. This is historical fiction at its best.
A good book to remind us (women) how long we have come and how important can sport be. We all know about the men during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I did not know that women even participated. Interesting characters
It’s a fun informative book based on real characters and events. Informative also for anyone interested in the role of women (& their discrimination) in the Olympic track and field events. Also insight into the discrimination of black Female athletes vs their white teammates.
Easy read but informative.
Plot wandered a bit, but the history was wonderful and I am pleased to have learned about the first/earlier women track & field stars. Saddened, but not surprised, at the treatment of the Black women athletes.
This book was a disappointment. The premise sounds interesting, but the plot was advanced with wholesale fakery. Every document, letter and newspaper clipping quoted throughout the book was invented by the author.
This was my first book by Elise Hooper and won’t be my last. Fast Girls was a refreshing read for the historical genre. While I didn’t think Berlin was focused on too much, the journey of what these three girls had to overcome to get where they ended up being was inspiring. I enjoyed how it was based on actual people because it added to the story. My favorite character was Betty. What she overcome in the novel and real life was something I wouldn’t be able to do. She was a fighter, and Elise Hooper really capture that essence about Betty.
Elise Hooper