A fantastic fictional story based on the lives of three women preparing to compete in track and field at the 1936 Olympic Games. All three of the athletes came from vastly differing background and overcame many obstacles including poverty, injury, sexism and racism to even get the opportunity to compete in the hotly contested Olympic Games. This book will have you spring with each women’s triumphs and in tears over their setbacks. The Olympics are my absolute favorite sporting event and this book truly represents the spirit of the Games and the heart of those athletes that give all they have to compete.

If you liked Cool Runnings, you'll love Fast Girls. Admittedly I wasn't sure about it at the start, but as I kept reading I got completely hooked until I finished it well past midnight. It's impossible not to root for Betty, and Helen, and Louise!

The 1936 Summer Olympics are famous for many reasons. They were also only the third modern Olympics where females were allowed to participate in Athletics events, what we now call Track and Field. Betty Robinson, Louise Robinson, and Helen Stokes were all part of the team representing the United States. Fast Girls is a novelization of their early lives and their journey through the Olympic cycles of 1928 to 1936. Hooper skillfully raises the tension in pivotal scenes, and has the reader thoroughly invested in the women’s stories. I would recommend this book to readers of Pam Jenoff and Martha Hall Kelly, with the caveat below.

For all of my engagement with the story, something just wasn’t right, resulting in the three star rating.It’s difficult to articulate, but I think the closest I can come is that the author treats the women as characters in her story, not as historical figures with their own stories. In reviewing her comments about the inspiration for the characters after the end of the novel, I questioned some of her decisions and wondered why the deviations from reality were necessary. It’s true that the lives of these women are nowhere near as well documented as those of male athletes of the time, and the demands of creating a narrative require some of those holes to be filled in with speculation; however, I would have preferred that the story contain more holes if it left more facts intact. I also hope that a bibliography or resource list, even a limited one, is included in the final version of the book, to help those who want to learn more about these women.

Final recommendation: As a story, it’s a good read. As a piece of biographical fiction, I’m less convinced.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

Really enjoyed this! I love historical fiction and this is a perspective I really knew nothing about, and I found it so interesting! I especially liked the inclusion of the newspaper articles. I don’t know how much of those were actual articles and how much was fictionalized but it really reminded you of how women were looked at during that time period.

This novel set in 1936 at the Olympics in Berlin was an absolutely wonderful novel. I have read several articles about that particular Olympic in Germany, that of Jesse Owens, the female Olympians and, of course, Hitler. I will say you learn more reading this historic novels than you do in school. Excellent and highly recommended. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishing for my ARC of this wonderful novel. This is the story of three very diverse women making their way onto the 1936 Olympic team; a time of uncertainty as the Olympics were in Berlin and women were not considered to be true athletes. I found each of their stories fascinating. These women had many hurtles to overcome. The writer shares their stories in such a way that you feel as though you truly know these women. I also appreciated the Afterword giving a synopsis of each character’s future as well as explaining some of the areas where the author included some of her own creativity. I highly recommend this beautifully written novel about very strong women making a difference in the world of women’s athletics. I would highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Book Club Girl's Early Read Program for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I'm not a sports enthusiast, neither a participant nor spectator, but I found this to be a fascinating novel describing a lesser known story of women athletes during the 1930's. It's historical fiction based on several real women runners competing in the 1936 Olympics. Some of the sports names most people will recognize, but the novel focuses on the experiences of a few young unknown women. Short chapters alternating points of view between the main characters are interspersed with news articles to tell the story of these women and how they developed their running talent leading up to the Olympics. The author's research was detailed and realistically described the time period: married women couldn't teach high school, running was thought to make women look too masculine, athletics were considered damaging to women's health, and the racism during this time was appalling.

The climax of the book is the 1936 Olympic competition in Berlin. Author Elise Hooper skillfully creates tension between the threatening Germans and the track competitions as the different events unfold - Who will compete? Who will be sent home? Will injuries sideline athletes? Will the Americans win the gold medals? This should be required reading for high school and college history classes. And I highly recommend it for you!

With the Olympics cancelled for a year, the next best thing is to read anything that is related to it! Having visited the Olympic venue in Berlin recently, this book piqued my interest. I would have liked more coverage of the actual 1936 Games but appreciated the backstories of the athletes. The only character I found myself routing for was Louise, the others felt a little 2-dimensional to me.

Hooper was trying to fit a lot into this book: racism, the Great Depression, sexuality and class were all jostling to be heard over the primary story of how these ladies got to the 1936 Games. It was like an 'Intro to' book, nothing too in depth. Maybe if she had focused on two athletes instead of the three she could have explored these issues to a greater degree.

I enjoyed reading about the 1936 Games from a different perspective and Hooper did well writing about the threat of Hitler and the Nazi's. if you want to read about a group of ladies who made Olympic history and also take a quick trip through the cultural, historical, political environment of the US during the 30s this is the book for you.

Thank you Netgalley for my ARC, this is my honest review.

Great book, such an interesting and well-told story. Enjoyed learning the true story of these female athletes and what they went through.

Thanks to The Book Club Girls for acquiring this title for us. Very good book about the Olympics and the first females for track and field. If you like sports and history this book is for you.

Whoa. This book was utterly amazing. I usually read mystery fiction books so this book was initially out of the norm of what I typically read but I am so glad I read it. Fast Girls follows the 1936 US women's olympic track and field team through their complicated journey to get to the games in Berlin. Hearing about each women's story was inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time. I had no idea the struggles Betty, Helen, Tidye, Louise, and female athletes in general had as they trained and travelled to the games in Berlin under Nazi rule. Elise Hooper does an amazing job outlining the perseverance of these tremendous athletes at a time where it was difficult to be a female athlete. I was truly inspired by this book and I could not put it down. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone, especially young female athletes. I have already preordered two copies of this book so that I can read it again and gift it to one of my student athletes. Thank you @netgalley and @harpercollins for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

As the mother of a college athlete (rower) and an Olympics fanatic, I was immediately drawn to this book, thinking it might be comparable to “The Boys in the Boat”, but from a female perspective. Although not nearly as in-depth, I found it to be an enjoyable, fast read that was really appropriate reading during the pandemic when I was needing something to get my Olympics “fix”. I liked reading about the various characters and situations of that particular historical period, although I would have preferred a little more detail about a few of them. The newspaper “articles” were a great way to move the timeline along without sacrificing too much content and the afterword was one of my favorite parts because I could find out what really happened to the characters (many of which were real people) after the book ended.

This book was great! It was so easy to lose yourself in the story, and kept you turning pages to see what happened next! Will definitely be recommending!

What An unbelievably heartbreaking and inspiring story. Elise Hooper has an uncanny ability to take women who should be well known but aren’t and give them a voice. Written as a snap shot of Olympic champions this novel is about perseverance and hope. Absolutely loved i

I loved this book, this being the third story I have read concerning the 1936 Olympics and one of those is my all-time favorite book ever, this one is now up in my top 10 all time favorites. There are so many things about this book that just won me over, first is the way the story is written, I so enjoyed learning about the events of these girls when they were growing up, the hurdles, challenges and sacrifices they made to get to where they wanted to be and live their dream. I especially adored Louise and my heart broke for her. Betti had a heart of gold and overcame so many challenges. Helen, thank heavens she found running to be her niche.
I find it so interesting how the three authors I’ve read describe the Olympic events of 1936 and how the athletes viewed the Hitler regime. It is difficult to understand how so many things were staged and overlooked by so many people. If you enjoy reading a great book taking you on a heartfelt journey meeting several star women athletes striving to attain a place in track and field, this is the book for you!! I cannot recommend it high enough. Great job, well done Ms. Hooper.
And one of the best parts of the book, the way she tidies up and lets us hear the rest of the story and learn how these young ladies lived out their lives. I so appreciate when an author takes the time to do that.
I was very excited to be allowed an ARC from HarperCollins Publishers and NetGalley for my honest unbiased review. This one earns the highest 5 stars.

Elise Hooper in her three historical fiction books, has refreshingly covered people or events that aren't oversaturated in the genre. This story, while overlapping to some degree with World War II, is primarily about women participating in the first Olympics women were allowed to compete in. Instead of focusing on a single character like her previous two books, this book instead tells the story of three women from very different backgrounds and the obstacles they faced to be able to compete in the Olympics. Betty, the golden girl, has to recover from life-threatening injuries she suffered in an airplane crash. Helen has to overcome poverty and a lack of support from her father and classmates. And Louise has to overcome the endemic racism that limits her abilities to compete despite her talent. The story is fascinating, and while it's interesting to get to learn about the history of three different women, the depth of the characters falls a little flat to me. I don't know if it's because Hooper is trying to interweave three different stories, or if she can't quite draw out enough of how they felt about the challenges they faced to make the reader relate to each woman. All in all this was enjoyable, but Learning to See stills stand as my favorite book by this author so far.

I just completed reading "Fast Girls " and really enjoyed it. This was in pre-war times and centers around women athlete runners competing for the Olympics. I learned a lot about these times with how the girls had to be extra determined to compete in a "man's world" and some had the extra challenge of dealing with racial discrimination. The book was nicely paced and rich with historical background. I really liked that it was based on true characters and was exciting to learn about each of them and how they performed. The book included telegrams and newspaper articles to help give the feel of the era. I appreciated getting this opportunity to read this wonderful book ahead of the actual publishing date in July. My thanks to NetGalley and publishers HarperCollins for the honor of reading this book. My opinions expressed are my own.

As a runner, a woman, and a lover of history, I enjoyed this novel and the way that Elise Hooper brought the earliest female Olympic athletes' lives to light. I am personally indebted to the women who paved the way for me to run myself, and found their dreams to be much like my own. So in that way, I found this novel very well written and realistic. However, there were so many women profiled that it was hard to get attached to anyone. Also, the dual narrative of racism that African American athletes faced presented a secondary layer that was a bit complex. I would have loved to delve more into that story, but it sometimes felt overshadowed by all the other parts that were included. So all in all, this was an important book and one I am truly glad to have read. But it was like drinking from a firehose at times so that needs to be noted as well. It's worth the read though!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complementary e-copy to read. All thoughts are my own.

Fast paced story about about track and field female athletes, and their journey to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The story focuses on the athletes; Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens. Each face their own hurdles as they compete to make it to Berlin, only to find that once in Berlin their challenges continue. The actual races are well written, I found my heart speeding up as I raced to the finish to see who had won. An inspirational story about these pioneers in Track and Field, and I would highly recommend.

Fast Girls was a thoroughly entertaining read, I enjoyed learning about these remarkable women. I did not know the stories of Betty, Louise, and Helen before reading this book and as I learned more found myself rooting for them throughout the chapters. Their athletic achievements in a time when women were not encouraged to be active and athletic were remarkable and kudos to Elise Hooper for bringing their stories to life. I was compelled to learn more about them after finishing and enjoyed the afterword. This is more than just an inspirational story about female athletes; it is an inspirational story about strong women who deserve to be known and recognized for paving the way for other women to achieve their dreams.