Jane's Stories III
by Glenda Bailey-Mershon and M. Eliza Hamilton Abegunde, Eds.
Published by Jane's Stories Press
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Reviewed by Sara A. Baker
Subtitled: Women Writing Across Boundaries
With their third anthology of women's writing, Glenda Bailey-Mershon and M. Eliza Hamilton Abegunde have moved from the arena of Midwestern women to the varied spheres of international women.
This book contains ten poems and five short stories, many detailing experiences unique to women. The collection is diverse, ranging from a poem on a secret, sacred moment in India to a story of a tomboy who learns the truth about her family in the sweltering heat of Alabama. Every piece stands solidly on its own while adding dimension to the collection as a whole, leaving you hard pressed to pick a favorite.
The two women succeeded in picking stories that reflect the multitude of experiences of women in different cultures yet contain elements that resonate with every woman. Hannela, the protagonist in Marci Stillerman's "Swimming Lessons," knows the boys and men swim and frolic on the beach while she is forced to wear long skirts and avoid semi-nudity even when alone. Her father, an Orthodox rabbi, refuses to let her learn to swim, prompting a rebellion that is really more about living life than about disobeying her hyper-protective father. Despite the Orthodox nature of Hannela's experience, any woman can relate to watching the boys do something forbidden to her.
Likewise, Susan Richardson's poem "Resettlement" reveals a mother's deep connection to the home in which she raised her family, a sentiment many mothers can understand. Richardson briefly catalogs the history of the house in terms only a mother can truly feel: "the lives of its five generations / the twenty eight births / the labour pains ingrained in the wood of its walls / the nineteen deaths / and all those oilskinned hours / of waiting / while the men were at sea in a storm."
Overall, the poets in this anthology play with symbolic nature images as deftly as Mia Hamm toys with a soccer ball, while the fiction writers conjure up realistic scenes of the lives of women and girls that are as clear as a summer day.
Armchair Interviews says: The only critique is that Jane's Stories III is not longer.
Author's Web site: http://www.janesstories.org