NEW RELEASE
Ten Girls to Watch - Charity Shumway (2012)
Dawn hasn't made much progress during her first year out of college. She has broken up with her boyfriend, pretzel heir Robert, and makes her money writing lawn care advice. Then Dawn gets an opportunity to research the past winners from Charm magazine's annual Ten Girls to Watch contest for its 50th anniversary. She spends her days scanning through archives in a warehouse, well away from the magazine's gleaming offices, but as she interviews the women, including her own college thesis advisor, Dawn finds she has much to learn from their words of wisdom and life lessons. This is an inspiring, well-written story from one author to watch.
Ten Girls to Watch, the debut novel by Charity Shumway, is about stumbling through the early years of adulthood while taking (or not taking) the advice of the women who've gone before you. The summary says: "Dawn West is trying to make her way in New York City. She's got an ex-boyfriend she can't quite stop seeing, a writing career that's gotten about as far as penning an online lawn care advice column, and a small hometown in Oregon that's her last recourse if she can't make next month's rent. So when Dawn lands a job tracking down the past winners of Charm magazine's Ten Girls to Watch contest, she's thrilled. Not only is she being paid to interview hundreds of fascinating women, but she's also sharing office space with Secret Agent Romance, Charm's resident dating columnist, and he just happens to be giving her butterflies. As Dawn gets to know the life stories of these former winners, she'll discover that success, love, and friendship can be found in the most unexpected of places. And even more importantly, she'll find that though those who have gone before us can be role models, ultimately, we each have to carve our own way." Ten Girls to Watch is out in July. Shumway is a creative writing graduate who spent nine months reporting on the 50th anniversary of Glamour's Top Ten College Women contest.