Girl Runner - Softcover

Snyder, Carrie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1444792652 ISBN 13: 9781444792652

Publisher: Two Roads, 2015

Synopsis

Aganetha Smart was a poor farm girl who could run like the wind, but this was rural Canada in the 1920s when girls didn't run, or dream of the Olympics and they certainly didn't win. Aganetha Smart was about to change all that. Girl Runner, Carrie Snyder's debut novel, is the story of Aganetha Smart, a former Olympic athlete who was famous in the 1920s, but now, at age 104, lives in a nursing home, alone and forgotten by history. For Aganetha, a competitive and ambitious woman, her life remains present and unfinished in her mind. When her quiet life is disturbed by the unexpected arrival of two young strangers, Aganetha begins to reflect on her childhood in rural Ontario and her struggles to make an independent life for herself in the city. Without revealing who they are, or what they may want from her, the visitors take Aganetha on an outing from the nursing home. As ready as ever for adventure, Aganetha's memories are stirred when the pair return her to the family farm where she was raised. The devastation of WWI and the Spanish flu epidemic, the optimism of the 1920s and the sacrifices of the 1930s play out in Aganetha's mind, as she wrestles with the confusion and displacement of the present. Part historical page-turner, part contemporary mystery, Girl Runner is an engaging and endearing story about family, ambition, athletics and the dedicated pursuit of one's passions. It is also, ultimately, about a woman who follows the singular, heart-breaking and inspiring course of her life until the very end.

About this title

From the Back Cover

“Snyder tunes Aganetha’s voice so beautifully at each stage of her life that the comparisons to Elizabeth Strout’s unforgettable Olive Kitteridge are inevitable. Yet Aganetha is most definitely her own person from start to finish—a process Snyder has captured with exceptional grace.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune

An unforgettable novel about competition, ambition, and a woman’s struggle to earn a place in a man’s world, Girl Runner follows young runner Aganetha Smart, who defied everyone’s expectations to win a gold medal for Canada in the 1928 Olympics. It was a revolutionary victory because these were the first Games in which women could compete in track events. Now, Aganetha is in a nursing home, and nobody realizes that the frail centenarian was once a bold pioneer.

When two strangers appear asking to interview Aganetha for a documentary about female athletes, she readily agrees. Despite her frailty, she yearns for adventure and escape, and though her achievement may have been forgotten by history, her memories of chasing gold in Amsterdam remain sharp. But that triumph is only one thread in the rich tapestry of her life, and as Aganetha’s story takes shape, it becomes clear that the power of family ties—and secrets—does not diminish through the years, and that these filmmakers may not be who they claim to be....

“Instantly mesmerizing and effortlessly beautiful.”—Kimberly McCreight, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia

About the Author

Carrie Snyder’s Girl Runner was short-listed for the 2014 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Her previous book, The Juliet Stories, was a finalist for the prestigious Governor General’s Literary Award and named one of the Globe and Mail’s Top 100 Books of the Year. Her first book, the short story collection Hair Hat, was short-listed for the Danuta Gleed Award for Short Fiction.

About this edition

• Publisher: Two Roads
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1444792652
• ISBN 13: 9781444792652
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360