Unfortunately, this historical fiction account of three women and their pivotal roles in women’s suffrage is rather lackluster and dry. I’m not quite sure why because author Jennifer Chiaverini has done well with her quilt series and other tales. This book, THE WOMEN’S MARCH, though, feels like a cross between a history book and a newspaper story; there’s a missing spark that would have brought life to the pages. Coming on the heels of the large Women’s March after the 2016 Election, this should have been a juicy topic. There’s so much about this century that feels like a repeat from the last; this tale offers more for that line of thinking. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is a difficult review for me to write, as I am a huge fan of Jennifer Chiaverini. Historical fiction is my favorite genre, and I've enjoyed all of the other books that Jennifer Chiaverini has written. I know that she spends a great deal of time researching her subjects and usually I learn so much from reading her novels. But I found The Women's March to be very tedious and I had a hard time getting through it. I'm sure there was a lot of conflict and competition between the different women's groups involved in the march, but reading all the pettiness just irritated me. It was interesting and a bit depressing to realize that many of the issues they dealt with in 1913 are still problems today, more than 100 years later.
I was provided an ARC of The Women's March by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

#thewomensmarch#netgalley#jenniferchiaverini

I'll admit that I'm not very knowledgeable about the women's suffrage movement and I'm thankful this book gave me an opportunity to change that a bit.

The Women's March is focused specifically on three different women's perspectives leading up to and participating in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, held in DC the day before Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as President.

Fun fact, as a lifelong Jersey resident I was not aware Wilson was Governor of NJ before becoming President. I also had no idea how racist and sexist he was either!

I appreciated that author Jennifer Chiaverini didn't whitewash the suffrage movement and highlighted the intersectionality of racial and gender equality efforts. Through Ida's perspective, we get to see how shortsighted white women were to not fight for all women's rights.

I also had the opportunity to listen to some of this on audio. While I would have loved if they decided to engage different narrators to help separate the POVs, Saskia Maarlveld did a fantastic job, with the book coming in at just under 11 hours.

While this came off more historical than fiction, it was very informative and educational. While a bit narrow in focus, it allowed the reader to get deep into this time period and the women who helped shape history.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Audio and William Morrow & Custom House for an advanced copy of this and the opportunity to share my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Women's March by Jennifer Chiaverini is the story of the march which took place the day before Wilson's inauguration for the right for women to vote. It's told through the eyes of Maud Malone, Alice Paul and Ida Welles Barnett. There's a lot of research that went into this book. The different stories mesh nicely although the women never meet at the procession. I enjoyed reading this book and I felt like I was marching right with them. I have read her other books and I really liked them. I will recommend to friends. Thank you for letting me review this book

I was excited to read an ARC of The Women’s March by Jennifer Chiaverini. My grandmother lived during this time period and was a woman ahead of her time. I wish I could discuss this book with her. This book has alternating chapters featuring three activists and their lives in the years prior to the Women’s Suffrage Procession on March 3 in Washington. The first three chapters flew by as a chapter was devoted to each. Alice Paul earned a college degree and advanced degrees at the University of Pennsylvania in sociology and minors in Political Science and Economics. She then went on to study in England and participated in the suffragette movement where she was arrested and endured forced feeding in prison. Next, the reader meets Ida B. Wells Barnett who was born a slave in 1862 until the end of the war. She married Ferdinand Barnett who was ten years older. He went to law school in Chicago and was the first Black Assistant State Attorney in Illinois. She was a Civil Rights Activist and journalist. The third activist is Maud Malone a New York librarian at Seward Public Library. Maud organized the first suffragette parade on February 16, 1908.

Finishing the three chapters, I thought I was introduced to each of the women and the book would start moving. As a retired high school English and U.S. History teacher I began to feel like I was reading a textbook and not a historical fiction book. I would have liked to have had this book to read some excerpts to my students or use for group work in the classroom. To be honest, it took a lot of time for me to finish this book as I felt like it was just fact after fact. I did enjoy the Author Notes at the end to find out what happened to each of these amazing Suffragettes. My thanks to William Morrow Custom House and NetGalley for an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I’m a big fan of historical fiction, however, this book was too much like a text book to enjoy. I found it very dense and not nearly enough story or character development.

Jennifer Chiaverini does it again. Tells a story so clearly and vividly that you hope when the characters hope, and hurt when they hurt. The author has an incredible talent of teaching fascinating parts of history and weaving them into an entertaining lesson. Writing is strong as always. Will be a must read!!

It was obvious that a lot of research went into this story of three women working toward votes for women in three very different ways. I expected to feel immersed in the era, and sometimes that was the case. However, most often I felt like I was reading nonfiction. This is such an important topic. The back matter reminds us just how far we still need to go to achieve true equality. I was disappointed that the book did not draw me I as I expected. On a positive note, I was very pleased that the role of Black women, specifically Ida Wells-Barnett role, was included. I will recommend this book to people interested in voting rights for women.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I had a really hard time finishing this book. It was very well researched but the characters didn't grab me and I just couldn't engage with it.

Some writers have the "it" factor. That je ne sais quoi if you will. It's hard to duplicate and it's innate. In my opinion. Jennifer Chiaverini has it. The Women's March transported me back to 1913 when women back then fought for the rights that we have today. It was a story I could have encapsulated and worn around my neck. Incredible. If you are a historical fiction lover you need to read this!

Well researched, but I couldn't connect with the characters. I am very interested in the women's suffrage movement, but this fictional account seemed dry to me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy.

Jennifer Chiaverini’s newest historical novel tells the fascinating stories of three early 20th century suffragists: librarian Maud Malone, American Quaker and veteran of the militant British suffrage battles Alice Paul, and journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Thanks to the work of early suffragists, several Western states had already granted women the right to vote, but nationwide the movement had faced staunch opposition and stalled. With nods to such icons as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Jane Addams, and Mary Church Terrell, Chiaverini places the on-going struggle firmly in the hands of Malone, Paul, and Wells-Barnett.

From dated chapters alternating between these three women, readers learn each woman’s story and come to understand the forces they fight against and the friends and enemies they make. Chiaverini dramatizes events such as Malone’s confrontation with 1912 presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson, which lands her in jail, and Wells-Barnett’s establishment of an African American suffragist organization when most white suffragists fail to welcome black members.

Slightly less than halfway through the novel, Chiaverini gradually begins zeroing in on the National Woman Suffrage Association’s controversial Washington, D. C. parade up Pennsylvania Avenue on March 3, 1913—the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. After a long-fought battle to stage the event, the thousands of marching women, some from countries that had previously granted women’s suffrage, were about to face more opposition.

Well-researched and followed by Chiaverini’s meticulous notes, The Women’s March is a must-read novel for anyone interested in the women’s suffrage movement. At times, a few sentences sounded too preachy, and I found myself wishing a point might have been shown rather than told. However, as I thought about it, I realized Chiaverini had already dramatized nearly every point and apparently wanted to drive those points home.

All in all, her latest novel is an informative and vivid account of the 1913 women’s march and key figures behind or participating in it.

Thanks to Netgalley, William Morrow, and Jennifer Chiaverini for an advance reader copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I just couldn’t get into this. It was too much like a text book and didn’t grab me.while I love the premise I found this a slog to read. DNF for me.

As our country experiences increasing battles with states trying to suppress voting rights, this book could not have been written at a more appropriate time. The most alarming thing I discovered as I read it was that as far as race relations and women’s rights have come, they have not come far enough since some of the same issues that our country grappled with in 1913 are still being debated today. Reading Ida, Alice and Maud’s stories was inspiring and eye-opening. As state governments are trying to white-wash curriculum to reflect a narrow view of history, books like The Women’s March are crucial to teaching a new generation what past generations suffered for the freedoms they take for granted, and that are in a crisis as some would take those freedoms away if possible. My only complaint about this book was that it takes a little liberty with history, since it is a fictional account. Though it’s obvious that Chiaverini researched for this novel, readers might either dismiss the entire book as fiction, or might take it as complete fact if they haven’t read the author’s note. Knowing it’s a fictional account made me a little confused as to which parts are known and which are made up. Beyond that, though, it was a very enlightening and inspirational novel.

The first part of the book is a bit overwhelming. There are three main characters, and I appreciate the author's motive in weaving the three stories together. However, because there are three characters, and the story is about the Women's March in 1913, the first few chapters from each woman's perspective has to serve as a quick biography up until the point the narrative picks them up. That being said, once the story focuses on the Women's March, it gets a lot better. It is interesting to see the different issues from different perspectives, like the Hudson Army from Maud's and Alice's perspectives. Perhaps most poignant is the way Ida Wells-Barnett and Alice Paul view the issue of race in the march. I appreciated seeing both women's perspectives, and seeing how Alice thinks she's being progressive, while Ida calls out Northern suffragettes for compromising their principles. Even though I suspected it was coming, my heart broke when Ida was told she should march in the back. Like most of Jennifer Chiaverini's books, The Women's March made me want to delve deeper into the history of the era and the women who played a role.

While this was an excellent account of three members of the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, it didn’t have the punch that Resistance Women had. It read more like non-fiction than it did historical fiction. I learned a lot about three of the leaders of the Vote for Women movement in the early 20th century. Alice Paul, Ida Be Wells and Maud Malone were daringly brave women and I recommend it to anyone concerned with the early leaders of the Woman’s Movement.

In order to understand the present, it's important to understand the past. To look back and see how far we've come. This book gives a good overview of how women fought to get the right to vote in the United States. It's important history that we should all know about. The story was a little textbook-like and didn't grab me the way so many other historical novels do. Yet if you want to learn more about women getting the vote, I think it's well worth your time.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Received this ARC from William Morrow and Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. Ida B. Wells, Maud Malone and Alice Paul are three women involved in the fight for Woman’s Suffrage. Their work brings the three of them together at the Women’s March in Washington D. C. In 1913. The story included a few fascinating pieces of historical information, such as the strong opposition to voting rights for women and the lack of assistance from the police during the March. However, I feel that the novel missed the mark. It read more like non fiction than historical fiction. It also made so many mentions of committees and organizations that it disrupted the flow of the narrative. I found the most interesting part of the book to be the last few paragraphs of the Author’s Note.

I received an advance digital copy of this book from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

As the title suggests, Jennifer Chiaverini focuses her latest historical fiction story on events leading up to the March 3, 1913 Women’s March for suffrage which took place in Washington, D.C. the day before Woodrow Wilsons’s inauguration.

I discovered while reading this account that my knowledge of women gaining the right to vote was quite lacking. I knew of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Lucretia Mott’s efforts from the mid 1800s era, but not the three women this author was introducing to me. Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, and Maud Malone, all historically instrumental in the events leading up to 1913 march are featured in alternating chapters throughout the book taking place between 1910 and 1913.

Although I enjoyed the slightly fictionalized account presented, I felt I was reading a well researched narrative nonfiction of each incident culminating in the march instead of the historical fiction I was expecting having read this author’s other offerings in this genre (Mrs. Lincoln’s Dressmaker, Mrs. Lincoln’s Sisters). The limited dialogue also made it difficult for me to connect with the three main characters. These women exhibited no internal change throughout this story and therefore remained one-dimensional. I did learn many facts about their efforts but developed no attachment to each of them.

The author’s note was also very informative, but the presentation of the story itself made the note seem as if it were another nonfiction chapter in the continuing narrative.

A book whose important story could be told in the historical fiction genre in which it is promoted is in need of some adaptation.

What an interesting book how these 3 women looked at Suffragette movement in 1910 And how at least women really wanted the vote for women and they all came from different backgrounds M Au ND she was she was the one from New York and how she wanted to repair and how she wanted to be very independent because she came from a lower background a lower background but our brothers and sisters moved up the ladder Yeah she worked and did the wrong thingThis was a Quaker and she went to England and she went through all that and she went through all that stuff over there and how she came back to run the Washington DC turn on the Washington DC headquarters I Ida was black and how she had to and how she had to put up with racism in this organization racism in this organization because they couldn't really accept it couldn't really accept black people but she had a really strong background I've got a really strong background and how she handled it she handled it because she never let anything get in her way let anything get in her way and you'll find this out in the book with it's out in the book when the When they marched in Washington DC in 1912 Book because it showed how hard and struggle was for these how hard an struggle was for these women especially M Au ND how she marked M Au ND how she marched and how she put up with these crowds and now she put up with these crowds who really didn't like them