A Cowardly Woman No More
Over the course of one fateful day, Trisha Donahue begins to reclaim her courage and discovers secrets in a familiar place. A surprising, quietly dramatic adventure story infused with Ellen Cooney's warm humor and wisdom.
After years of skilled work and dedication, Trisha Donahue is denied a well-earned promotion by her company's male executives, who give it instead to an underqualified man. Devastated, forty-four-year-old Trisha begins to reckon with the demands that exhaust her, the injustices that confront her, and the ways she has betrayed herself "just to fit in" with coworkers who resent and belittle her abilities. But at the Rose & Emerald--a unique rural restaurant Trisha has loved since childhood--her company's annual Banquet Day sets in motion a surprising adventure, revealing unexpected allies, hidden passageways, and an interstellar secret. Encouraged by a vivid cast of characters, from sympathetic coworkers to the mysterious employees of the fabled Rose & Emerald, Trisha makes a decision that will change her professional and personal life forever. From acclaimed author Ellen Cooney, A Cowardly Woman No More is a lively, luminous novel about a wife, mom, and career woman who brings herself first nervously, then more and more bravely, through a monumental transformation.
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Ellen Cooney is the author of ten previous novels, and of stories published in the New Yorker and many literary journals. The recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, she lives on the Phippsburg Peninsula in midcoast Maine
Praise for A Cowardly Woman No More
"This elegant and off-kilter upending of the office novel sings." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"I have been a fan of Ellen Cooney's for years, and she is in undeniably brilliant form once again here. Masterfully told, full of surprise, built from unforgettable sentences that sing, whisper, or shout, A Cowardly Woman No More is utterly compelling from its first fiery comet of a page to its last." -Laird Hunt
Selected praise for One Night Two Souls Went Walking
NPR, "Favorite Books of 2020"
Newsweek, "Must-Read Fall Books"
Kirkus, "Best Fiction of 2020"
Bustle, "Best Books of Fall 2020"
The Millions, "Most Anticipated: Fall 2020"
"Shimmering, remarkable. . . . A triumph of a novel, and one that arrives at the perfect time." --Michael Schaub, NPR
"Cooney's warm and hopeful novel is a salve for these times." --Juliana Rose Pignataro, Newsweek
"Wise and warm. . . . This is a quiet book, steady, gentle, present, one that grapples with the matter-of-fact here and now, and wades, with bravery and wonder, into the mysteries that make us human." --Nina MacLaughlin, The Boston Globe
"The perfect novel to combat pandemic angst. " --Kirkus, starred review
"Cooney's novel expands the concept of what's possible, imagining hope where there is none and pointing always toward the light." --Mari Carlson, BookPage, starred review
"Takes place over the course of a night shift at an urban medical center whose cavernous immensity--'steel and glass and stone, lights muted in the deep surround of the dark'--gives it the feel of a modern-day cathedral. . . . The word 'soul' is a frequent presence in this novel, a kind of familiar spirit." --Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal
"Now, more than ever, we need to be reminded that hope prevails--and this novel does exactly that." --Carolyn Quimby, The Millions
