by M. J. Rose
Alva answered without pause. “If a woman had designed the ship in the first place, there would have been enough lifeboats for everyone.”
Mr. Tiffany sputtered and gasped, and for a moment Alva thought he might be having an attack of angina himself. Then he shook his head, a reluctant smile on his lips, conceding ground. “You have a point, Mrs. Belmont. You have a very good point.”
“A woman and a man are equal.” Alva spoke with candor, affected by the forced intimacy and the waves of progressive energy flowing off the women around her. “When my older brother died, I knew my father secretly wished it had been me instead, the daughter, not the son. I found that unjust, and still do.”
The parade had ground to a halt, and Mr. Tiffany turned to face Alva. “My older brother also died, but as a baby. I was given his name at my birth. Perhaps we both understand what it’s like to never have measured up.”
Such intimacies would normally never be exchanged in the confines of polite society. Not in the parlors nor dining rooms, not over steaks at Delmonico’s, nor during a carriage ride in Central Park. But today’s riot of free expression had cracked the façade of that rigid world.
The parade shifted forward once again and the moment was broken.
Grace placed herself in between them, taking hold of each of their hands and humming to herself as they trod slowly forward. Alva spotted the signpost for Fifty-Eighth Street—one more block to go.
She put her free hand to her chest, feeling for a flutter, then let it fall to her side. Her heart was strong; no doubt she’d live to see another decade or two. Her fear earlier that day had arisen not from a physical ailment, but something else entirely. She feared another rejection by the women around her, that they once again wouldn’t allow her in, or were only humoring her because of her vast wealth. For decades, she’d resented having to plow the way forward time and time again, and not get an ounce of gratitude for her bravery in return.
However, if she really examined it, taking the lead had been her way of keeping control of her life, ever since she was young.
If she built her own mansion, then it wouldn’t crumble to the ground.
If she secured her own fortune, she’d never be beholden to another soul.
But nothing was ever certain. Oliver’s sudden death had shown her that. Even within the suffrage movement, factions had broken away, as women with separate agendas formed their own committees and organizations, diffusing what little power and sway they held and infuriating Alva in the process.
Maybe she’d been wrong. Perhaps all these women, no matter which branch of the organization they supported, were part of a giant wave, one set to topple the status quo.
And maybe that was fine.
Well, as long as Alva could be the foam cresting at the very top. After all, someone had to be in charge. Still, these women weren’t turning their backs on her. They were offering up smiles and encouragement, and even after having walked three miles in the cold, they locked arms, uncomplaining.
Alva wasn’t invisible. She was an integral part of this moment in time, as were all the hopeful faces around her. Each woman had to find her own destiny, her own voice, her own cause. And then kick and scream until she was heard.
Ahead of them, a woman threw back her head and howled. A terrible, unseemly noise. But the sheer freedom of the gesture rippled around them, and as the sound echoed up the canyon of Fifth Avenue, other marchers joined in. Grace gave out a surprisingly loud howl, and then Alva did as well, the sound emerging from deep within her, out her throat, and up to the sky, like a banshee soaring to heaven.
They exchanged smiles. Alva unpinned the jewel from her shirtwaist, leaned down, and pinned it on Grace’s sash. Grace looked up at her, her mouth in an O.
“Is this for me?”
“When you’re old, like me, tell your granddaughter that you marched in the streets for her right to vote. Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Grace!”
Mr. Tiffany, Grace, and Alva looked up to see Mrs. Katrina Tiffany waving madly from the sidewalk that bordered Central Park. Mr. Tiffany, holding tightly to Grace’s hand, charged over, leaving Alva behind. Halfway across, Grace stopped and turned. She lifted her camera to her face. Alva stood perfectly still as the girl took her photograph. Then the crowds shifted between them, and the girl, her uncle, and her aunt were lost from view.
* * *
A month after the great parade, Alva was settled in her parlor sifting through the numerous invitations for the holiday season when a thin package caught her eye. She sliced it open. Inside was a carefully written note from Grace thanking her for taking care of her the day of the march, along with a photograph.
It was of Alva, standing like a sentry in the middle of Fifth Avenue, her ridiculous hat looking as if it were about to take flight. The women in motion around her in the photo appeared like blurry angels, a stark contrast to Alva’s defined silhouette. Alva’s expression was not one of pique or displeasure—her usual mien—but that of someone she barely knew.
That of a young girl, pleased with herself for standing up for herself.
And of an old woman imagining the troubled but triumphant future ahead.
The best protection any woman can have … courage.
—ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
A Note from the Authors
Time to separate fact from fiction. While all the authors wrote stories true to the time and place, some used actual people and locations.
Lisa Wingate’s characters are fictional, though the Reverend Octavia Rose was loosely inspired by a study of the real-life Reverend Olympia Brown, who was the first woman ordained as a minister with the official approval of a national denomination. Born in 1835, she was one of the few early-day suffragists to witness the culmination of a long-held dream. She was able to cast her vote after the Nineteenth Amendment became law.
In Steve Berry’s “Deeds Not Words,” the Dictograph machine did, in fact, revolutionize how conversations could be recorded. The incident on the bus with Margaret is taken from an actual court case that was reported in the newspapers of the time. The Flatiron Building exists and continues, to this day, to be an architectural marvel. The Men’s League of Women’s Suffrage existed and worked hard to convince other men that women deserved the right to vote. The National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage was headquartered in New York, just not on East Thirty-Fourth Street.
In Katherine J. Chen’s story, the character of Siobhán is fictional, along with the other members of Alva Vanderbilt Belmont’s impressive and varied household, the exception being the larger-than-life character of Mrs. Belmont herself. The scene where immigrant workers are invited to talk at an event hosted by Mrs. Belmont is inspired by a real-life occasion co-organized by Anne Morgan (daughter of John Pierpont Morgan), which took place at the Colony Club, an exclusive women’s social club on Madison Avenue.
Christina Baker Kline’s story “The Runaway,” about a girl slated to board a so-called orphan train who ends up instead in the women’s suffrage parade, is fictional, though the trains were real. For seventy-five years, between 1854 and 1929, they carried more than 250,000 orphaned, abandoned, and runaway children from the East Coast to the Midwest in a labor program. Kline’s novel Orphan Train is about this little-known but significant piece of American history.
In Jamie Ford’s story “Boundless, We Ride,” the characters Mabel Lee and Paul Soong were rivals in real life. As a student leader, Lee tirelessly pushed for co-ed education, and in 1922 became the first female PhD at Columbia University, graduating with a degree in economics. As a Chinese woman, she was still unable to vote until 1943.
In “American Womanhood” Dolen Perkins-Valdez fictionalizes Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s day on October 15, 1915. Black women suffragists were conspicuously absent from the New York City parade, so this piece glimpses the work Wells-Barnett was doing in Chicago at the time. She’d founded the Alpha Suffrage Club, and its mobilization of blac
k women voters was helping to shape municipal elections. The story also includes a flashback to the Washington, DC, parade held on March 3, 1913, in which black women suffragists were present. Parade organizers, led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns, insisted that black women march at the back of the procession, but Ida refused. Ida’s confrontation with the Illinois delegation was captured by a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and this story re-creates that scene from the reporter’s account.
In Alyson Richman’s “A Woman in Movement,” the story of Ida Sedgwick Proper, a painter who used her ties to the New York City artistic world to solicit work for The Woman Voter, is based on fact. Proper also organized a suffrage poster contest in New York to support the Nineteenth Amendment, with a generous fifty-dollar prize that helped draw entries from the most talented artists from around the city.
In Chris Bohjalian’s story “Just Politics,” the unnamed Armenian writer from Constantinople who visits Ani in Adana after the massacre is based on Zabel Yessayan. Yessayan journeyed to Adana in 1909 after the slaughter, and her book In the Ruins chronicles what she saw there.
The character of Alva Belmont in Fiona Davis’s story was a real person. Belmont was a prominent socialite and active supporter of the suffrage movement.
Acknowledgments
The idea for Stories from Suffragette City was launched during a flight home from Literature Lovers’ Night Out in Minneapolis, where we had both been invited to speak, so thanks to bookseller extraordinaire Pamela Klinger-Horn for bringing us together, and for everything you do to connect authors and readers.
We are so grateful to James Melia and Amy Einhorn at Holt for your early enthusiasm for the project and sage guidance. Also to Stefanie Lieberman and Dan Conaway for juggling the logistical aspects of an anthology with consummate skill and grace. Thank you to the entire team at Holt, including Maggie Richards, Declan Taintor, and Caitlin O’Shaughnessy.
To the authors whose work appears in these pages: we are so lucky to have you on board and grateful for your splendid and thoughtful contributions.
We are indebted to Meredith Bergmann, whose suffrage sculpture for New York’s Central Park inspired this idea, and to historians and authors Johanna Neuman, Robert Cooney, and Antonia Petrash, whose help was invaluable.
* * *
Personally, from Fiona:
Thanks to Brian and Dilys Davis and the rest of the Davis clan, and Greg Wands for your support and love.
* * *
And from M. J.:
Thanks to all the strong women in my life who have taught by example, especially Mara Nathan. To Jordan Kulick, whose passion for our future and planet continues to give me hope. And, of course, thanks always to my family for their love, and to Doug Scofield for … well, for everything.
About the Authors
Steve Berry is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty novels. His books have been translated into forty languages with over 25 million copies in fifty-one countries and consistently appear in the top echelon of The New York Times, USA Today, and indie bestseller lists. His honors include the Royden B. Davis Distinguished Author Award, the Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, and the Anne Frank Human Writes Award. He is an emeritus member of the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board.
Chris Bohjalian is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-one books including Midwives, The Red Lotus, and The Sandcastle Girls. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages and three have become movies. He is also a playwright and screenwriter, and his novel The Flight Attendant is now an HBO Max limited series starring Kaley Cuoco.
Megan Chance is the nationally bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. She’s won over fifteen awards for her work. Her novel Bone River was an Amazon Book of the Month, The Spiritualist was chosen as one of Borders Original Voices, and An Inconvenient Wife was a Book Sense pick. She has been translated into more than a dozen languages.
Katherine J. Chen is the author of Mary B. Her work has been published in Lit Hub and Los Angeles Review of Books. She has a forthcoming novel on Joan of Arc (Random House).
Fiona Davis is the nationally bestselling author of historical fiction set in iconic New York City buildings, including The Lions of Fifth Avenue, The Chelsea Girls, and The Address. Her books have appeared on the Indie Next List, been LibraryReads Picks and theSkimm Reads Pick of the Week, and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. You can sign up for email updates here.
Jamie Ford’s debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His second book, Songs of Willow Frost, was also a national bestseller. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages (he’s still holding out for Klingon, because that’s when you know you’ve made it). His latest novel is Love and Other Consolation Prizes.
Kristin Hannah is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books including The Nightingale, which has been published in forty-three languages and is currently in movie production at TriStar Pictures. It was voted the best historical novel of the year by the People’s Choice Awards and Goodreads. Her latest novel, The Great Alone, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and is in development for a major motion picture at TriStar. Her novel Firefly Lane is in production at Netflix for a limited series.
Christina Baker Kline is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of seven novels including Orphan Train, which spent more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list and was published in forty countries. Hundreds of communities, schools, and universities have chosen it as a One Book, One Read selection. Her recent novel, A Piece of the World, an instant New York Times bestseller, was awarded the 2018 New England Prize for Fiction and the 2018 Maine Literary Award.
Paula McLain is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Paris Wife, Circling the Sun, and Love and Ruin. Her work has been published in thirty-four countries. McLain has been credited with revitalizing the historical novel through The Paris Wife, which has more than 1.5 million copies in print. McLain has been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also the author of two collections of poetry and a memoir.
Alyson Richman is the #1 international bestselling author of seven novels including The Velvet Hours, The Garden of Letters, and The Lost Wife, which is currently in development for a major motion picture. Her books have been translated into twenty languages and have reached the bestseller charts in several countries. Alyson has met with more than a hundred book clubs, and her novels are consistently chosen by the Jewish Book Council.
M. J. Rose is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty novels including The Book of Lost Fragrances and Cartier’s Hope. Her last eleven novels have all appeared on the Indie Next List. The Fox television series Past Life was based on M. J.’s novel The Reincarnationist. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages. She is also the founder of AuthorBuzz.com and the cofounder of 1001DarkNights.com and Blue Box Press. Sign up for email updates here.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Wench. In 2011, she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. In 2017, HarperCollins released Wench as one of eight Olive Titles, limited-edition modern classics that included books by Edward P. Jones, Louise Erdrich, and Zora Neale Hurston. Dolen received a DC Commission on the Arts grant for her second novel, Balm, which was published by HarperCollins in 2015. Dolen is a 2020 nominee for a United States Artists Fellowship. Dolen serves on the board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation. She is currently an associate professor in the Literature Department at American University.
Lisa Wingate is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books including Before We Were Yours, her most recent, which has been on the New York Times bestseller
list for two years and counting. She’s the recipient of the 2018 SIBA Southern Book Prize, the 2017 Goodreads Choice Award for Historical Fiction, the LORIES Best Fiction Award, the Carol Award, the Christy Award, and the RT Booklover’s Reviewers’ Choice Award. Before We Were Yours was a 2018 National Book Festival selection.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Introduction
Kristin Hannah
Apple Season
Lisa Wingate
A First Step
M. J. Rose
Deeds Not Words
Steve Berry
Thylacine
Paula McLain
Siobhán
Katherine J. Chen
The Runaway
Christina Baker Kline
Boundless, We Ride
Jamie Ford
American Womanhood
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
We Shall Take Our Lives into Our Own Keeping
Megan Chance