February in the Library
by Anne Newins
Library Volunteer Debbie Adler, a fan of women of fortitude and perseverance, created February’s book display topic which features both fictional and nonfictional women. Volunteers Liz Caldwell and Bonny Turner also made suggestions. The books include many undaunted women, including pilots, detectives, explorers, anthropologists, scientists, librarians, public figures, code breakers as well as ordinary women thrust into difficult circumstances.
*The Maisie Dobbs books by Jacqueline Winspear
*The Number One Detective Agency, featuring Precious Ramwotse, series by Alexander McCall Smith
*Island of Sea Women, by Lisa See, introduces the fierce female divers of Jeju Island, South Korea.
*The Four Winds, by Kristin Hannah, set in California and Texas, is a portrait of an indomitable woman who will do anything to keep her family together during the Great Depression.
*The Diamond Eye, by Kate Quinn, tells of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest sniper during World War II. It is based on a true story. Debbie recommended another Kate Quinn novel, The Huntress, which also is World War II saga. The heroine is part of an all-female bomber regiment.
*Miss Benson’s Beetle, by Rachel Joyce, is a quirky book taking place in New Caledonia during the 1950’s. Miss Benson decides to leave her dead-end job to help search for a beetle that may or may not exist.
The non-fiction books portray the lives of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Beryl Markham, Sonia Purnell, Cheryl Strayed, Michelle Obama, Gertrude Bell, and many others.
We would like to highlight a RVM resident, Maria-Cristina Page, a woman who also forged ahead. Her many accomplishments began early in life. A native of Cochabamba, Bolivia, Maria-Cristina decided to become one of the few women to study architecture at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellin, Colombia during the 1960’s. Getting there began with a four day bus ride in torrential rain. When the buses could go no further, she rode to Lima, Peru on the back of a truck, finally reaching Medellin by air. She was the only woman riding the buses and truck, as well as the youngest.
Graduating with only five other women, Maria-Cristina was the first woman architect in Cochabamba, as well as the first female Professor of Architecture at Cochabamba’s Universidad de San Simon. She is pictured below.
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