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Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press
“Beautifully written . . . A celebration of girls and athletics.” —USA Today
Originally published in 1995 to huge critical acclaim and a finalist for the NBCC Award for Nonfiction, Madeleine Blais’s In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle is a modern sports writing classic. Now expanded and updated with a new epilogue, Blais’s book tells the story of a season in the life of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a powerhouse girls’ high school basketball team from a small western Massachusetts college town. The Hurricanes were a talented team with a near-perfect record, but for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, they somehow lacked the scrappy, hard-driving desire to go all the way. Now, led by senior guards Jen Pariseau, a three-point specialist, and Jamila Wideman, an All-American phenom, this was the year to prove themselves. It was a season to test their passion for the sport and their loyalty to each other, and a chance to discover who they really were. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle is a classic sports book, a timeless look at girls’ athletics.
“Joyful . . . The reader gets a real sense of these girls and their dreams.” —New York Times Book Review
“Extraordinary.” —Baltimore Sun
“Tender and upbeat . . . Wonderfully wry . . . A delight to read.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
“A beautiful book . . . The art of athleticism is depicted in its essence.” —Denver Post
“Flows like a novel . . . These basketball players show us what women can do when they work together as a team.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution
“Engrossing . . . Better than the best pep talk, this book will kindle your pride in your own unique, feminine strength.” —New Woman
“A special book . . . Alternately funny, exciting and moving, the book should be enjoyed not only by girls and women who have played sports but also those who wanted to but let themselves be discouraged.” —Publishers Weekly
“A much-needed addition to sports writing for women . . . Extremely readable and compact . . . Compelling.” —School Library Journal
“A fantastic account of a high school basketball team . . . A great book.” —Stefan Fatsis, author of A Few Seconds of Panic and WordFreak
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction
A National Bestseller
An Independent Literary Publisher Since 1917
