A raw and lyrical exploration of the confining expectations of womanhood and, if we dare, what lies beyond those limitations-from a writer Roxane Gay calls "vibrant and thoughtful."
Gorgeous, raw, badass, and practically waiting to pounce, Good Woman: A Reckoning is acclaimed essayist Savala Nolan's follow-up to her "standout collection" (New York Times Book Review) Don't Let It Get You Down.
A lifetime of playing by the rules of female social conditioning is not what it's cracked up to be for Nolan. The years of making herself smaller (literally and metaphorically); the sexual advances that led to more than she wanted; the bad marriage she fought like hell to keep; all the ways others questioned her identity or choices and she let it slide to keep the peace; her silence when requested; her body when desired-none of it worked. None of it protected her the way it was advertised to.
Nolan noticed the same was true for the women around her and the women in history she read about. Across time and location, they were raised to be agreeable and "good." Hyper-visible as sexual objects but invisible as full people. Living in a physical world created by men for men. Taking on the ultimate role of birth-giver and caretaker, yet seeing it remain an unsung act, even as it's a God-like creation. Only in midlife did Nolan begin to realize she was capable of living outside these cages of conditioning so slyly insidious that they're nearly invisible.
Good Woman elegantly probes the knotty conditions themselves, the costs of adhering to them, and what happens when one refuses to comply. The twelve stunning and unforgettable essays blend memoir, reportage, and history to create a collection that is alternately bold, brash, and explosive ... and ravishingly tender, sensual, and joyous. Nolan takes aim at big and old ideas, and she does not miss. Hers is a testimony to witness and to savor.
"Savala Nolan's Good Woman is a stone cold, knock-out punch delivered with the caress of a silk glove. This book cracks you open. Then, having done so, with Nolan's characteristic nerviness, she dares to tend to your tender places. This book will change you." - Brittany Cooper, author of Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower
"This good woman thinks boldly and writes with exhilarating passion. Whatever the subject – gender, sex, race, class, art, politics-she disrupts piety and honors complexity. These are smart and daring essays to learn from and revel in." - Margo Jefferson, author of Negroland and Constructing a Nervous System
"I devoured this book. Good Woman does what an excellent friend would do-provides solace, conversation, debate, and opens up new frameworks for the good life. Savala Nolan writes about the end of a marriage, the birth of a daughter, the body, and occupying several identities simultaneously. She writes with grace, wit and insight, in the tradition of writers who understand that the personal is also political. If you love the essays of Roxane Gay or Rebecca Solnit, Nolan's book will be your brilliant new companion." - Sarah Rhul, author of Smile: The Story of a Face
"When Nolan says 'I'm not grinding an ax, I am sharpening a blade. There's a difference', believe her. This is a blade of a book, and it is ours to feel the power of, to wield. The first chapter of Good Woman left my jaw agape. It is a pistol whip of an opening, and what follows is just as potent. At a time when being a woman, particularly a Black woman, feels like being a living target, I am grateful for Nolan's sharp, clear-eyed, vulnerable look at what we have decided womanhood is, who it serves, and how we move through it. Good Woman is everything we have come to expect from Nolan: blisteringly intelligent, well-honed, sharp arguments laid next to the softest and most tender parts of herself - bared to us, encouraging us to do the same. Having this book in my corner feels like arm
