Memoir. Confession. Humor.

Lived-experience. Intimate Revelations. Professional Discoveries.

Survival. Pleasure. Triumph.

Fast Fallen Women introduces 75 new essays about the dangerous and enthralling ways women fall—and how we get back on our feet, more deft, more decisive, and more daring than ever. Holding a compact mirror up to life with the same curiosity that enveloped Eve when she once held the apple, editor Gina Barreca’s latest inclusive collection of short, sharp, feminist pieces illuminate women’s courage, curiosity, and wit.

With new works by Amy Tan, Jane Smiley, Caroline Leavitt, Bobbie Anne Mason, Honor Moore, Darien Hsu Gee, Ilene Beckerman, and Lynn Peril. 

PRAISE FOR GINA BARRECA:

 “Barreca is sharp analyst of women’s humor…observant, witty, acerbic, and knowledgeable.”

 —Los Angeles Times

 “You can count on Gina for essays that are fun, feminist, and provocative.”

 —Roz Warren in Women’s Voices for Change

 “Barreca is an unfailingly winning narrator…”

 —Publishers Weekly

 “Barreca learned to do what any sassy smartypants would: challenge stale ideas and press buttons.”

 —Chicago Tribune

Gina Barreca has appeared, often as a repeat guest, on 20/20, The Today Show, CNN, the BBC, NPR and, yes, on Oprah to discuss gender, power, politics, and humor. Her earlier books include the bestselling They Used to Call Me Snow White But I Drifted: Women’s Strategic Use of Humor, It’s Not That I’m Bitter, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World, and Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Coeducation in the Ivy League. Her latest books are part of a series she’s editing on FAST WOMEN for Woodhall Press; these including FAST FUNNY WOMEN: 75 Essays of Flash Nonfiction (2021), FAST FIERCE WOMEN (2022), and FAST FALLEN WOMEN (forthcoming in 2023). Of the other seven books she’s written or co-written, several have been translated into to other languages–including Chinese, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese and German.  Called “smart and funny” by People magazine and “Very, very funny. For a woman,” by Dave Barry, Gina was deemed a “feminist humor maven” by Ms. Magazine. Novelist Wally Lamb said “Barreca’s prose, in equal measures, is hilarious and humane.”

Gina’s work has appeared in most major publications, including The New York Times, The Independent of London, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Cosmopolitan, and The Harvard Business Review; her blog for Psychology Today has well over 7.5 million views. Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Gina’s also the winner of UConn’s highest award for excellence in teaching. 

Jane Smiley is the author of numerous novels, including A Thousand Acres, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, and the Last Hundred Years Trilogy: Some Luck, Early Warning, and Golden Age. She is the author as well of several works of nonfiction and books for young adults. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she has also received the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature. She lives in Northern California.