Editor Spotswood offers a collection of historical stories about young women, bold and brave, many who traverse territory slated only for men.Rebekah, who comes from an Orthodox Jewish family, defies the traditional patriarchal hierarchy of the faith when she secretly meets with her friend Caleb to study Torah, forbidden to women. When these secret meetings are discovered, Rebekah is forced to make the bold choice of allegiance to religious tradition or her desire to be educated in it. In the 19th-century Southwest, Ray is a Mexican girl who poses as a boy to work as a stevedore among men while cheating them at cards to raise funds to reunite with her long-lost family. In "Lady Firebrand," interracial friends Pauline and Rose conspire to undermine the Confederacy by acting as undercover saboteurs for the Union. Crossing genres into fantasy, Emma McGee is a young black girl whose family has discovered a potion that gives them immortality. As U.S. involvement in World War II heightens, Emma is torn between keeping her family's secret and her desire to serve in the Army Nurse Corps. These are tales across time and cultures, offering diverse women as witnesses to historical times. Contributor Dhonielle Clayton sums up the necessity of such an anthology when she writes, "There are few stories about what nonwhite people endured [during World War II], and I wanted to explore that." A needed collection to broaden understanding of the many different faces of history. (Anthology. 14-18)

Spotswood follows up A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls (2016) by editing (and contributing a story to) another collection of historical fiction that centers around women. Twelve stories from acclaimed YA authors focus on women who, one way or another, have radical, groundbreaking experiences. Organized chronologically, the stories range from 1838 Savannah to 1984 Boston and represent girls of diverse skin tones, religions, sexual orientations, and ability. Standouts include Anna-Marie McLemore's "Glamour," in which a young Mexican woman uses family magic to disguise her heritage as she navigates 1920s Hollywood; Dhonielle Clayton's "When the Moonlight Isn't Enough," about an immortal African American girl struggling during WWII with how to help a country that hasn't always helped her; and Stacey Lee's "Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave," which features a Japanese American teenager participating in a beauty pageant in 1955 California. Short story collections can be uneven, but this one has an admirable goal, and there is plenty to love.

These female-authored stories, spanning almost 150 years, follow brave, unconventional heroines as they face foes and approach crossroads in their lives. Featuring a refreshing array of religions, neuro-ability, sexuality, and ethnicity, the anthology's serious, sexy, funny, and exhilarating tales offer underrepresented points of view in historical fiction. An author's note with further information is appended to each tale.

Editor Spotswood offers a collection of historical stories about young women, bold and brave, many who traverse territory slated only for men.Rebekah, who comes from an Orthodox Jewish family, defies the traditional patriarchal hierarchy of the faith when she secretly meets with her friend Caleb to study Torah, forbidden to women. When these secret meetings are discovered, Rebekah is forced to make the bold choice of allegiance to religious tradition or her desire to be educated in it. In the 19th-century Southwest, Ray is a Mexican girl who poses as a boy to work as a stevedore among men while cheating them at cards to raise funds to reunite with her long-lost family. In "Lady Firebrand," interracial friends Pauline and Rose conspire to undermine the Confederacy by acting as undercover saboteurs for the Union. Crossing genres into fantasy, Emma McGee is a young black girl whose family has discovered a potion that gives them immortality. As U.S. involvement in World War II heightens, Emma is torn between keeping her family's secret and her desire to serve in the Army Nurse Corps. These are tales across time and cultures, offering diverse women as witnesses to historical times. Contributor Dhonielle Clayton sums up the necessity of such an anthology when she writes, "There are few stories about what nonwhite people endured [during World War II], and I wanted to explore that." A needed collection to broaden understanding of the many different faces of history. (Anthology. 14-18)