A Woman of Genius
Author(s): Mary Hunter Austin
Genre(s): Fictional Biographies & Memoirs, Literary Fiction
Narrators: Amy Dunkleberger
Number of Chapters: 34
Length: 13 hours and 37 minutes
Language: English
In this 1912 novel, Mary Hunter Austin (1868-1934) draws inspiration from her own life to tell the story of a gifted woman caught between her public ambition and her private desire. Beginning with her post-Civil War Midwestern girlhood, Austin chronicles the tumultuous life -- its romantic and artistic challenges -- of "tragic actress" Olivia Lattimore. With lyrical insight, she explores the many social and economic obstacles talented women like Olivia face in their pursuit of self-fulfillment. In America’s cynical Gilded Age, Austin asks, can a “woman of genius” find both happiness and success? Summary by Amy Dunkleberger