Listen, world! how the intrepid Elsie Robinson became America's most-read woman
"At 35, Elsie Robinson feared she'd lost it all. She was reeling from a hostile divorce to a wealthy man that played out in tabloids across the country and she faced an uncertain future as the single mother of a chronically-ill son. She had no clear means of financial support, no college e...
| Main Authors: | Scheeres, Julia (Author), Gilbert, Allison (Author) |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
New York, NY :
Seal Press, Hachette Book Group,
2022.
|
| Edition: | First edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: |
"At 35, Elsie Robinson feared she'd lost it all. She was reeling from a hostile divorce to a wealthy man that played out in tabloids across the country and she faced an uncertain future as the single mother of a chronically-ill son. She had no clear means of financial support, no college education or training. She'd hit a wall. At a time when it was thought that a woman's highest calling was to become a wife and mother, Elsie hungered for a different kind of life. She dreamed of becoming a professional writer and sacrificed everything in pursuit of a career in letters, going so far as to work a California gold mine to pay the bills. Through it all, she wrote-everything from features to essays to fiction. When the mine shut down, she moved to San Francisco in 1918-at the tail end of a world war and an influenza pandemic. Borrowing money to buy a pen and paper, she created a mock-up for a children's column, then barged into the Oakland Tribune to thrust it into the hands of the managing editor. He hired her on the spot. From there, her popular children's column led to a nationally-syndicated column for adults that ran six days a week for more than 30 years and had 50 million readers. She became the highest-paid female columnist employed by William Randolph Hearst, who personally edited her copy and negotiated her contracts. Told with drama and cinematic detail by bestselling author Julia Scheeres and award-winning journalist Allison Gilbert, Listen, World! is the first biography of this indefatigable woman, capturing what it means to take a gamble on happiness, stumble a few times, and ultimately land on your feet"-- |
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| Physical Description: |
ix, 338 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Bibliography: |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781541674356 1541674359 |
| Author Notes: |
Julia Scheeres is the author of the New York Times -bestselling memoir Jesus Land and the award-winning A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Jonestown . She lives in Northern California. Allison Gilbert is an award-winning journalist and author of numerous books including Passed and Present and Parentless Parents . She lives outside New York City. |