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Review by Katherine Wyrick
From the shy days of my youth when I had to be coaxed out from behind my mama's skirt to greet someone, I can remember my grandmama imparting this bit of advice to me: "When you meet a person, look 'em in the eye and shake hands firmly. . . and smile." These words have resonated throughout my entire life. My grandmother came from rural South Carolina, learned to hunt and fish at an early age, and also learned the finer points of being a lady. This book captures something of the spirit of her wisdom and her heritage -- something of the yin and yang of what it is to be a southern woman.
The women in "Hell's Belles" greeted life with firm handshakes, open eyes, and smiles. Whether they were politicians, abolitionists, entertainers or hellraisers, they embraced the lives dealt them with extraordinary gusto, and here author Seale Ballenger pays tribute in this amusing, and at times enlightening, collection. With chapters including "Belles-Lettres: Literary and Fictional Belles," "Politicos in Petticoats" and the hilarious "Tinkerbelles and Shrieking Violets," Ballenger has done his research -- so well that you'll be left wondering if everything good didn't originate below the Mason-Dixon line.
Those profiled include:
This book is an education, and a fun one at that. One thing that emerges from its pages is that these women, from the 1700s to the present, all seem to possess a graciousness tempered with formidable strength -- OK, maybe with the exception of RuPaul. So if y'all think all southern women are Scarletts -- think again.
Katherine Wyrick is assistant editor of BookPage and a belle in her own damn right.
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