A Good Woman

A Good Woman is the story of Mary Lou Friedman, a spunky eighty-five year old whose life slides into chaos when she is threatened by local hoodlums and her husband becomes terminally ill. As Mary Lou fights for her family and home, she revisits her past as a wild farm girl, a naïve young bride, an inexperienced mother, and a mature woman discovering her sexuality. Throughout, she copes with the changing expectations and challenges faced by women of the twentieth century, the final hurdle being old age in a world where people live long but receive little respect. Ultimately Mary Lou is stripped of everything she depends on. Vowing to defend her home, she acquires a gun, with tragic results. * 'A Good Woman is a powerful story of a woman's life, and a well-researched recounting of the cultural and social changes she lives through while rearing her children. We have all read compelling family sagas, but none has pushed the boundaries of imagination and rattled the taboos of storytelling quite like this one. A Good Woman breaks new ground, and is also funny, warm, and human. Each character is distinct and believable and described with an empathy that disallows condescension. Watch Mary Lou, age 86, buying a shotgun and laugh with her, not at her. Weil's story across many decades is seamless, her voice calm, and her conclusion shocking. A Good Woman is not just a good novel, it's one that delivers a punch readers are not likely to have felt before.' Ceil Cleveland, author of Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow, The Bluebook Solution, 15 Words, and many others. 'Tender, touching and terrifying-A Good Woman is not a novel about 'seniors.' It is about humans.' Stephen Birmingham, social historian and author of many best-selling novels. * Dorothy Weil is a popular novelist and television writer-producer. She has published a comic novel bought by Disney Productions, Continuing Education; a memoir about her family's life on the Ohio River, The River Home: a mystery set on the river, River Rats, and a recent comic novel, Life, Sex, and Fast Pitch Softball. She has published hundreds of articles for magazines and newspapers and her documentaries for TV IMAGE have won many national awards.