Biography Girls

The summer of 1939 turned out to be the last summer of author Lucy Lipiner's childhood. On September 1, when she was six years old, her parents roused Lucy and her older sister from their beds, and with other relatives in tow fled their town of Sucha and the invasion by Nazi Germany.

It is 1918, six months after the end of World War I, and Rosalind awaits the return of her father from the war. While it is common practice for British children in India to be packed off to boarding school at the age of 6, Rosalind is unusual because she lives and is schooled in India because her mother insists.

Captured in the 1930s before the words psychopath and pedophile were part of common vernacular, notorious serial killer Arnold Sodeman murdered four young girls with little thought of remorse. Without guilt, the evil serial killer strangled them to death with their own clothing and left their small bodies alone in the Australian brush, earning himself a chilling position in the annals of Australian crime.

How did a young girl from a small village become a powerful military leader, a symbol of hope, and a beloved saint? Joan of Arc changed the course of French history with her strong faith and courage. This audiobook takes you through Joan’s life, showing how a humble peasant rose to become one of history’s most amazing figures.

Miss Unlikely takes you through Betty’s unconventional childhood, the surprising pageant journey, an incredible year as Miss America, a fairy-tale wedding, and everything in between. She offers wisdom on school, boys, self-esteem, choices, disappointments, insecurities, mentors, cyberbullies, and more. Behind-the-scenes moments and previously untold stories show how her faith and family ultimately carried her through difficult times. Betty’s personal and sincere account will remind you the only way to get where you want to go is through God’s unique plan.

Teacher and former rugby league player Chris Dawson appeared to have it all - a loving family and a beautiful home in Sydney's Northern Beaches. But in the summer of 1982 his wife Lynette disappeared and not long afterwards Dawson married a much younger woman, a former student. Less than a decade later this young woman escaped the marriage and went to the police to record her suspicions that Dawson had been involved in Lynette's disappearance. A homicide investigation followed but got nowhere until 1998, when Detective Sergeant Damian Loone was handed Lynette's file.

Sexual abuse, human trafficking, drug addiction, rape, prison, and domestic violence - Barbara Amaya experienced it all on first on the streets of Washington D.C., and then New York City, most of it before her 16th birthday. In Nobody's Girl she shares her journey from trafficking victim to human rights advocate, weaving together a story of loss, pain, courage, and transformation.

In this book, I talked about what it means to be raised in the ghetto and how I navigated it, I talked about how my faith carried me through so much and how I came about the faith, I talked about my encounter with abuse, I talked about motherhood and friendship and so much more.

Bustle editor Samantha Leach and her childhood best friend, Elissa, met as infants in the suburbs of Providence, Rhode Island, where they attended nursery, elementary school, and temple together. As seventh graders, they would steal drinks from bar mitzvahs and have boys over in Samantha’s basement—innocent, early acts of rebellion. But after one of their shared acts, Samantha was given a disciplinary warning by their private school while Elissa was dismissed altogether, and later sent away.

A los 27 años gané la presidencia de mi pueblo, pero no me dejaron gobernar porque era mujer. En ese momento supe que, para cambiar mi vida y la de las mujeres indígenas, debía transformar la ley más importante de mi país. Desde entonces, mi lucha ha sido para que los pueblos indígenas y afro no sean considerados menores de edad y para que las mujeres no sean personas de segunda.

The sound of snapping twigs closed in on the five teenagers enjoying an evening around a glowing campfire at Gitchie Manitou State Park. The night of music and laughter had taken a dark turn. Evil loomed just beyond the tree line, and before the night was over, one of the Midwest's most horrific mass murders had left its bloodstains spewed across the campsite. One managed to survive and would come to be known as the "Gitchie Girl".

Ambassador Nikki R. Haley offers inspiring examples of a range of women who worked against obstacles and opposition to get things done–including Haley herself. As a brown girl growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina, no one would have predicted she would become the first minority female governor in America, the first female and the first minority governor in South Carolina, or the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. That journey wasn’t an easy one. This personal and compelling audiobook celebrates women who dared to be bold.

With raw honesty and surprising humor, Tiffany shares her journey from Catholic high school and her first sexual encounter with her boyfriend to seedy massage parlors and a legal Nevada brothel at the Cathouse featured in the HBO special, to classy freelancing in elite hotel bars.

Witty, sharp, and unflinching, I Named My Dog Pushkin will have fans of Samantha Irby and Jenny Lawson howling with laughter at Margarita’s catastrophes, her victories, and her near misses as she learns to grow as both a woman and an immigrant in a world that often doesn’t appreciate either.

Brian Belovitch has the rare distinction of coming out three times: first as a queer teenager; second as a glamorous transgender woman named Tish, and later, Natalia Gervais; and finally as an HIV-positive gay man surviving the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. From growing up in a barely-working-class first-generation immigrant family in Fall River, Massachusetts, to spinning across the disco dance floor of Studio 54 in New York City, Brian escaped many near-death experiences. Trans Figured chronicles a life lived on the edge with an unforgettable cast of characters.

Nine months before Rosa Parks kicked off the bus boycotts, Claudette Colvin was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She was fifteen. In 1912, women’s rights activists organized a massive march in support of women’s suffrage. Leading them up Fifth Avenue in Manhattan was not one of the mothers of the movement, but a teenage Chinese immigrant named Mabel Ping-Hua Lee.

The amazing story of pilot Tammie Jo Shults, adapted for young listeners! Tammie Jo worked hard, had faith, stayed true to herself, and overcame every obstacle on her journey to becoming a navy pilot. Years later, those lessons served her well as she was put in the right place at the right time to safely land a crippled plane and save 148 lives.

You cannot undo this, one of the surgeons told me, you have to be sure. I was sure. My choices were frightening, grim, and daunting. I possess the rare breast cancer genetic mutation BRCA2 and I saw it as a death sentence. My choices were drastic, my actions were immediate. Complete hysterectomy followed by prophylactic double mastectomy with 2. I will never be the same. In so many ways. It was, and is, such a journey.

Three Summers is the story of five young cousins who grow closer than sisters as ethnic tensions escalate over three summers in 1980s Bosnia. They navigate the joys and pitfalls of adolescence on their family’s little island in the middle of the Una River. When finally confronted with the harsh truths of the adult world around them, their bond gives them the resilience to discover and hold fast to their true selves.

Dave Kindred has covered dozens of Super Bowls and written about stars like Muhammad Ali, Tiger Woods, and Michael Jordan. But a high-school girls basketball team—the Lady Potters of Morton, Illinois—stands apart from the rest.