Review: Fast Girls - Elise Hooper

Review: Fast Girls - Elise Hooper - July 2020

People who follow my book reviews will know that I often am not a fan of historical fiction but I discovered last year that I have enjoyed Historical fiction that has been written based on true events. Fast Girls captured my attention in two ways from the cover as it felt like a matte cover rather than the usual glossy covers that most books have. This did make the book feel heavier in weight. As someone who doesn't follow sports, I was unaware of the history of women entering the Olympics. Fast Girls opened my eyes to the introduction to women running and participating in track and field activities. Especially as this was back in the 1920s/1930s when women were supposed to be thin females, have jobs like secretaries, or even be someone's wife and mother. If women were athletic they were supposed to be participating in events like ice skating or gymnastics. Not track and running. These sorts of sports made women sweat and look masculine. Fast Girls follows several females through their journeys and careers and up's and downs from Betty who won gold at the Olympics and then suffered a tragedy that saw her odds of ever running again drop to a possible never, Helen who was a poor farm girl and awkward and tall for her height - her dream was to be just like Betty and then we have Louise who is a black female trying to make her way in a world that didn't look very nicely on Blacks as this was during the time of segregation and then near the end we have the Berlin Olympics in 1936 which was during the beginning of Hitler's time as he had been elected to power in 1933 and just three years later after the 1936 Olympics, he would start World War Two. If you love reading historical fiction based on true events, then check out Fast Girls by Elise Hooper but fair warning - be prepared to tumbledown the rabbit hole of Google and research as if you are like me you will end up wanting to find out more about the "real lives" of the characters and this event. Fans of authors like Alison Pataki and Marie Benedict will love Elise Hooper's Fast Girls.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3OnSbmb