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    Audacity

    Author Melanie Crowder
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    Paperback
    $13.99 US
    Penguin Young Readers | Viking Books for Young Readers
    On sale Jan 05, 2016 | 400 Pages | 9780147512499
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    A 2015 National Jewish Book Award finalist

    The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history

    A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and societal conventions, Clara refuses to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan's Lower East Side. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, speaking up for those who suffer in silence. In time, Clara convinces the women in the factories to strike, organize, and unionize, culminating in the famous Uprising of the 20,000.

     


    Powerful, breathtaking, and inspiring, Audacity is the story of a remarkable young woman, whose passion and selfless devotion to her cause changed the world.

     

    clouds
     
                                        Over the grey plain of the sea
                                        winds are gathering the storm-clouds
     
    Words
    float like wayward clouds
    in the air
    in my mind.
     
     
                                        Now his wing the wave
     
    Wait—
    or was it,
               
                                        Now the wave his wing caresses
     
     
    I dip a hand
    into my apron pocket
    unfold a square of paper
    against my palm,
    hunch my shoulder,
    hide it from view.
     
    Ah,
     
    yes.
     
                                        Now his wing the wave caresses,
                                        now he rises like an arrow
                                        cleaving clouds
                                        and
     
    The poem is ripped
    from my hand
    and the air,
    where only wayward clouds
    had been,
    is full of shouting,
    accusations
    a hand raised in anger
                ready to strike—
     
    the world slows
    in the second before
    pain blooms
    in my jaw;
           a second
    to hope
    the poem is
    safe
    in my mind
    where fists
        and fury
    cannot shake it free.


    ordinary
     
    Just because I am
    small boned
    and short,
    brown haired
    and brown eyed,
    just because I look
               
    common
    as a wren
    meek
    as a robin
     
    that does not mean
    what is inside me is also
               
    common
    as a wren
    meek
    as a robin.
     
    Everything
    I wish for
    is strange
    aberrant
    even wrong in this place
    but I know
    I cannot be the only one
    blanketing her bright feathers
    hooding her sharp eyes
    hiding
    in plain sight.
     
    My life
                so far
    has been ordinary
    simple
    small
     
    but I cannot shake the feeling
    that inside this little body
    something stronger
    is nesting
    waiting
    for a chance
    to flex her talons
    snap her wings
          taut
    and glide
    far away
    from here.
    . All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
    © Photo by Tiffany Crowder
    MELANIE CROWDER (she/her) holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of the critically acclaimed Audacity, Mazie, and An Uninterrupted View of the Sky. She lives with her family on the Colorado Front Range. Visit Melanie online at www.melaniecrowder.net. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MelanieACrowder.  View titles by Melanie Crowder

    About

    A 2015 National Jewish Book Award finalist

    The inspiring story of Clara Lemlich, whose fight for equal rights led to the largest strike by women in American history

    A gorgeously told novel in verse written with intimacy and power, Audacity is inspired by the real-life story of Clara Lemlich, a spirited young woman who emigrated from Russia to New York at the turn of the twentieth century and fought tenaciously for equal rights. Bucking the norms of both her traditional Jewish family and societal conventions, Clara refuses to accept substandard working conditions in the factories on Manhattan's Lower East Side. For years, Clara devotes herself to the labor fight, speaking up for those who suffer in silence. In time, Clara convinces the women in the factories to strike, organize, and unionize, culminating in the famous Uprising of the 20,000.

     


    Powerful, breathtaking, and inspiring, Audacity is the story of a remarkable young woman, whose passion and selfless devotion to her cause changed the world.

     

    Excerpt

    clouds
     
                                        Over the grey plain of the sea
                                        winds are gathering the storm-clouds
     
    Words
    float like wayward clouds
    in the air
    in my mind.
     
     
                                        Now his wing the wave
     
    Wait—
    or was it,
               
                                        Now the wave his wing caresses
     
     
    I dip a hand
    into my apron pocket
    unfold a square of paper
    against my palm,
    hunch my shoulder,
    hide it from view.
     
    Ah,
     
    yes.
     
                                        Now his wing the wave caresses,
                                        now he rises like an arrow
                                        cleaving clouds
                                        and
     
    The poem is ripped
    from my hand
    and the air,
    where only wayward clouds
    had been,
    is full of shouting,
    accusations
    a hand raised in anger
                ready to strike—
     
    the world slows
    in the second before
    pain blooms
    in my jaw;
           a second
    to hope
    the poem is
    safe
    in my mind
    where fists
        and fury
    cannot shake it free.


    ordinary
     
    Just because I am
    small boned
    and short,
    brown haired
    and brown eyed,
    just because I look
               
    common
    as a wren
    meek
    as a robin
     
    that does not mean
    what is inside me is also
               
    common
    as a wren
    meek
    as a robin.
     
    Everything
    I wish for
    is strange
    aberrant
    even wrong in this place
    but I know
    I cannot be the only one
    blanketing her bright feathers
    hooding her sharp eyes
    hiding
    in plain sight.
     
    My life
                so far
    has been ordinary
    simple
    small
     
    but I cannot shake the feeling
    that inside this little body
    something stronger
    is nesting
    waiting
    for a chance
    to flex her talons
    snap her wings
          taut
    and glide
    far away
    from here.
    . All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

    Author

    © Photo by Tiffany Crowder
    MELANIE CROWDER (she/her) holds an MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is the author of the critically acclaimed Audacity, Mazie, and An Uninterrupted View of the Sky. She lives with her family on the Colorado Front Range. Visit Melanie online at www.melaniecrowder.net. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @MelanieACrowder.  View titles by Melanie Crowder

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